…and Blue Sky

I was a senior in high school in 1999. So was Adnan Syed. One of us has been in prison since then.

Last year, Serial became a nationwide (worldwide?) obsession, as millions of listeners tuned into the podcast week after week to hear about the mysterious murder case. The story took listeners on a “Did he or didn’t he?” rollercoaster ride; One episode would leave you thinking “Oh wow, Adnan is totally innocent.”, but then the next would reveal some twist that made guilt seem like a possibility again.

Adnan’s Story takes a deep dive into the case, including information that wasn’t covered on Serial or follow-up podcasts like Undisclosed and Truth and Justice. It not only includes copies actual documents like Asia’s letters to Adnan and Hae’s handwritten diary entries, but also passages written by Adnan himself.

We heard from him in a few Serial interviews, but in a case that has been talked about and written about SO much, the reality of life behind bars has made hearing from the actual person we’re all talking about rare. It’s fascinating to finally hear about the events directly from the source, and I was definitely struck by his character – things like how focused he was on making sure his family felt reassured he was doing okay when they would visit him shortly after his arrest. When I think back to being 17, I’m pretty sure I would have looked forward to family visits as an opportunity to seek comfort and reassurance from them – not the other way around.

Look Ma, my book is at @Costco ! I have arrived pic.twitter.com/ecdan7l16v

— rabia chaudry (@rabiasquared) September 9, 2016

Author Rabia Chaudrey is a beautiful badass. She’s gone to bat for Adnan so fiercely for the past 17 years, even when hope seemed so dim. If you ever feel like your life is overwhelming, imagine being her with a full time legal career, a popular podcast that’s basically a second full time job, writing a book, raising two daughters, keeping up with the developments in Adnan’s case, and fighting against the current crazy political climate that includes an actual front runner for President who basically says your entire religion should be banned from the country. Plus, she’s a cat lady, so I’m instantly on her team.

The glorious Mr. Beans. I’m a fan of his mismatched socks.

If you’ve listened to Undisclosed, you’ll already be familiar with a lot of the info in the book, but hearing it from Rabia’s experience vs. the more factual viewpoint presented in the show kept it from feeling repetitive, and there was a lot of new info that I don’t remember hearing yet. (BTW, if you’re a Serial fan and haven’t listened to season 1 of Undisclosed yet, GO DO THAT. It blew my mind so many times, especially the “Jay’s Day” episode with the tapping.)

The only part of the book where I felt a little “yeah, I’ve heard this” was the play-by-play of Adnan’s recent PCH (post-conviction hearing), but that’s only because I listened to the bonus Undisclosed episodes that they put out during the hearing, which means I just recently listened to Rabia and her cohosts discuss it for multiple hours.  If you’re reading the book without having listenined to those daily updates, or if I’d been reading it further in the future when it wasn’t so fresh in my memory, I’m sure it would be fascinating. (BTW, I’m pretty sure that even those totally unfamiliar with the story could follow this book, but I think that at least listening to Serial first would really enhance your enjoyment of it.) Everything else was totally engrossing, mostly because it’s a much more personal look at the story. We’ve heard the basic outline of events, but here’s how both the case and the crazy popularity of Serial actually affected the people involved.

Experts estimate that there  are probably over a hundred thousand wrongfully convicted people imprisoned in the US right now. This is the story of one. Other stories like Making a Murderer and the 2nd season of Undisclosed have given us a peek into the cases of two other people who may be innocent, but more importantly, all of these have introduced a LOT of people to the problems with our criminal justice system. Awareness is the first step towards change.

In the spring of 1999, I graduated high school. Adnan recieved his diploma in prison. He’s still there. A new trial may soon mean freedom for him, but I can’t get over all of the years that have already passed. The crazy thing that I keep thinking about is that there’s basically no way this case would play out the same way if it happened to a teenager today. The changes in technology are obviously the biggest difference – most of our phones have GPS running all the time, Adnan and Jay would most likely be texting or FB messaging people instead of calling them so we’d have written records instead of speculation, and destroying the evidence of the last person to contact Hae would not be as easy as throwing her pager into a random dumpster. But there’s another level that Adnan’s Story really made me think about. At the time of Adnan’s arrest, there was a popular belief among classmates who didn’t know him well that the police would never arrest someone without really solid evidence. If the police say someone is guilty, they’re guilty, right? They would never lie, never take away the entire future of someone if they weren’t absolutely certain.

Freddie Gray. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Michael Brown.

If the past couple of years have taught us anything, it’s to question everything. We’ve grown into a culture that wants proof. We’ve become a society where people immediately whip out their phones to video tape an arrest, because they no longer trust that the events will be reported accurately. The public at large has not only become more informeda about, but started to actually care about our justice system.

With all of that in mind, if high schoolers now heard that one of their classmates was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend because a) the police say so and b) duh, that’s just like, what Pakistani guys DO, you guys, how many would actually believe it? How many would have a million questions instead?

This has totally veered away from a basic book review, but I feel ways about stuff, y’all.

Listen to Serial, then listen to Undisclosed, then read Adnan’s Story. Be surprised by how much you learn a lot about law along the way. Take it all in, come up with your own theories, draw your on conclusions. Ask questions.

(And then obviously head over to Life According to Steph and/or Jana Says, because it’s Show Us Your Books link-up day, and you totally want to see what everyone else has been reading this month, too!)

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a complimentary review copy of Adnan’s Story!

It’s Show Us Your Books day! As usual, I procrastinated writing this post until WAY too late, so I only had time to write about 2 of the books I read this month. Someday I’ll catch up!

(Amazon links are affiliate links which will award me with bright shiny pennies if you buy stuff through them. Goodreads links are NOT affiliate links, because as awesome of a website as they are, they do not seem to care that I am very very poor, and thus do not shower me in money when you click stuff. Meanies.)

Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris

Amazon * Goodreads

“Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace: he has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You’d like to get to know Grace better. But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are never apart.”

Aggggh, this book, you guys! I read it all last night, so I haven’t had much time to digest it. Given that I read it straight through in a few hours, I obviously liked it, but I didn’t love. It comes out today, so I had an uncorrected advance copy, but the writing was great. Once it gets started, the pace never really lets up, so be prepared to find it tough to put down. I never really read thriller genre books because they stress me out so much, but something I read about it compared it to Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, both of which I loved (obvs), so I requested it anyway. It’s a very different style of storytelling than those two. There are definitely disturbing elements, but nothing graphic. I think the main thing that keeps me from loving it is exactly what I mentioned above – after pretty much the first chapter, the tension never lets up. There’s eventually a climax to the action of the story, but the tone of that section is pretty much the same as the rest of the book, which is a little…unsatisfying? More variation in intensity might have helped make it a more enjoyable ride, vs the “AHHH, I need to finish this!” sprint I went on. Still, I have a feeling everyone’s going to be talking about it, so maybe make it your last beach read of the summer ?

(Thanks to Netgalley, who hooked me up with the free advance review copy)

Think by Lisa Bloom

Amazon * Goodreads

I grabbed this book when I spotted it at the library because as a MSNBC addict, I’m familiar with Lisa Bloom and already kinda loved her. The book is an examination of the culture in the US that has evolved in which women are rewarded for focusing on appearance vs intelligence. She sites a study that found something like 20% of women said they’d rather win America’s Next Top Model than a Nobel Peace Prize, and mentions how it’s common to comment on how pretty a little girl’s dress is rather than to ask her what she’s been reading lately.

I loved the section where my beloved Angelina Jolie is used as an example, how despite over a decade of intense humanitarian work, most people still know her for “stealing” Brad from Jen, or as a MILF. No, seriously:

Sorry for the wonky text on that 2nd one. Wasn’t planning to post the book photos, but got lazy.

The obvious problem with the book is that the person who is apt to pick it up is already the type who values intellect over the superficial. (I mean, as I mentioned above, I was drawn to it because I’m a cable news nerd.) Maybe it would be useful if quietly left on in the bedroom of a teenage daughter? Not quite sure what would best get it into the hands of those who would most benefit from the message.

Oh, and she gets bonus points for RT’ing me.

(We should keep some kind of running count of how many of my blog posts Chris Hayes shows up in. Probably 79%)

 

Be sure to visit the Show Us Your Books linkup to see what other bloggers have been reading this month! I assume that everyone but me has now read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, so I’m off to hop around the linkup and see what’s being said about it. (And maybe some other books.)

Have you read anything awesome lately?

 

It’s been a couple of months since I participated in the Show Us Your Books linkup (my last one was in April!), so I wanted to be sure I got a post up for this month’s linkup with Steph and Jana! Appropriately enough, I’m writing this post at the library because my AC has been broken since I got back from FL, so I needed a serious break from the hot house.

I’ve read WAY more books since my last post than just the ones I’ve written about below, but things have been so busy and crazy that I just haven’t gotten around to writing about them yet. Hopefully next month’s books post will be a supersized edition full of reviews I’ve been meaning to get to! Until then…

 

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

Goodreads * Amazon

I don’t read a lot of fiction, but I’m always excited when Emily Giffin publishes a new book. This is the first time I’ve gotten one of her books free through NetGalley instead of from the library, so getting to read it before it came out made me feel fancy. It’s an interesting look at love loss and and family told through the voices of two sisters. Probably not my favorite Giffin book so far, but enjoyable and fairly light – a good summery chick lit-ish read that’s not too sweet and fluffy.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Goodreads * Amazon

This was my beach read while I was in Vero Beach last month. I think I may have actually enjoyed this more than Gone Girl, but I do want to put the warning out that it involves the murder of kids, so avoid if that kind of thing is going to seriously disturb you. If you can get past that aspect, it’s a suspenseful, engrossing read that I found myself picking up as often as possible throughout my vacation days.

As usual, I’m in the middle of like half a dozen books, and I have Shonda Rhimes’s “The Year of Yes” sitting next to me here at the library, just waiting to be checked out despite my total lack of time for it right now. Anyone know where I can get a clone so that I can manage to read AND get work done? That would be rad.

It’s the 2nd Tuesday of the month, which means we’re talking books today! I’ve been absurdly busy lately so only have 3 to discuss today, but they’re three good ones! (And not surprisingly, all nonfiction. Again. At least they’re not all super depressing this time? Just like… 1.5 of them.)

Pro tip: Clicking on any of the book cover images will take you to that book’s Amazon page via my super snazzy affiliate link. If you then proceed to buy stuff, I will be showered in cash and prizes. Or approximately enough pennies to buy some gum. Close enough.

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Okay, I’m going to sound like a total hipster here, but I was a fan of Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, way before she was “famous”. Like… I remember when her daughter was 5. (I have no idea how long ago that was, but she’s looking almost teenagery now?) I liked her first book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, but I loved this one. While her first book was a memoir of random, hilarious stories, this one centered around the theme of how she deals with things like chronic illness and anxiety disorder. As a totally cool member of the “sometimes I need Xanax to make doing everyday things seem even remotely possible” club, I related to a LOT of her struggles. Jenny shares her stories with both insight and hilarity. If you’re a fan of her blog, you’ll most likely dig her book, too.

Murder Over a Girl: Justice, Gender and Junior High by Ken Corbett

This is a heavy book. It not only covers the murder trial in which one 8th grader killed another, but also dives into societal views of gender expression, and how accepted ideas like “boys will be boys!” can be dangerous. In 2008, a 14 year old boy shot his classmate, who had recently begun wearing makeup and jewelry to school and going by a new (female) name. Somehow, a fairly large number of people saw the victim’s behavior as “deviant” and the shooter as “a normal boy”. The author is a psychologist with a background in studying gender, particularly in how boys are viewed and shaped by the expectations placed upon them.

Spoiler alert: this book is heartbreaking to read. About halfway through, I googled the names of the kids and was blown away by just how young they were. It’s one thing to read about 14 year olds, but another to put faces to the story.

If you nerd out over true crime like Serial, you might be into reading about this case. While there’s no real “mystery” to solve, the book does cover the debate about whether it should be classified as a hate crime, if the ruling should be first degree murder or manslaughter, etc etc. Saying that I “enjoyed” the book seems like the wrong word to use, so maybe I’ll just call it engrossing instead?

(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal by Tim Hays

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog over the past couple of months, you know that I just started riding horses again after a 10+ year break, and that it has basically been the best antidepressant ever. Riding Home discusses how riding and working with horses is used for therapeutic purposes, working wonders for people with everything from PTSD to autism. I’ve always wanted to get involved volunteering for a therapeutic riding program, but I’m mostly familiar with it for physical rather than mental or emotional problems. (One little girl at the stable where I take lessons was able to avoid a surgery for her spina bifida thanks to improvements brought about by riding!)

I found a lot of info in the book to be totally fascinating, such as the story of a little girl with autism who loved the discovery that you can tell where a horse is looking by which direction its ears are pointing, because it was the first time she was ever able to distinguish if someone was paying attention to her. Also, given how much time I spend working with rescue horses to achieve what can feel like very slow progress, I was blown away to learn that the equestrians at the famous Spanish Riding School in Austria have to spend FOUR YEARS establishing their relationship with their horse on the ground before they’re ever allowed on its back. That’s partnership, yo. I definitely recommend this one to my fellow horse nerds, or anyone interested in therapeutic riding programs!

That’s it for me for this month! Be sure to head over to Life According to Steph and Jana Says to check out the other participants in the Show Us Your Books linkup! An speaking of books, don’t miss the giveaway I just posted where you can win gorgeous adult coloring book!

It’s time for the monthly Show Us Your Books linkup with Life According to Steph and Jana Says!

Clicking on book cover images will take you to that book’s Amazon page via fancy schmancy affiliate links, which means that if you end up buying the book I get approximately enough commission to buy half a can of cat food. Hooray!

A side note/cry for help before we dive into this this month’s books: If any of you can help me figure out what’s messing up the spacing and fonts and everything else on my sidebar, I will be your BFF and braid your hair and bake you cookies. There are just so many problems going on over there! It’s supposed to be all nice and neat and pretty, but…LOLNOPE!

Anyway… BOOKS! I read some!

Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui – Revised & Updated Edition by Karen Kingston

I’ve heard about this book several times, so when I saw the new updated version avialable for review from Blogging for Books, I jumped on the chance to check it out. The original book was published in 1998 and became a classic, not to mention a best seller. The book I got is the 3rd edition, which has been updated and expanded. It’s a quick read at just under 200 pages in a book that’s only about 6 x 8″.

The main ideas behind it are quite a bit less “woo-woo” than “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”; there’s no talking to your items and thanking them for their work, for example. It’s also a lot less detail-oriented – no order to tackle things, specific ways to fold an organize, and so on. She even says it’s ok to have a junk drawer, as long as it’s small and cleaned out regularly. I feel like this little paragraph sums up the book’s basic ideas well:

She breaks the definition of “clutter” down into 4 categories – things you don’t use and love, things that are untidy or disorganized, too many things in a small space, and “anything unfinished”. I immediately knew that last category was my biggest problem. I’m THE WORST at starting projects and not finishing them, which is bad enough, but if I just glance up from where I’m sitting, I see laundry that needs to be done, books that I’ve been wanting to read, mail that needs to be sent, a giraffe statue whose ear needs glued back on, products I want to review, a dress that needs to be altered… etc. And while we mostly just sort of ignore that stuff on a daily basis, on a subconscious level, all of those “Oh, crap, I need to take care of that” thoughts add up and drag you down. She suggests that you look at the things that surround you and ask yourself what they symbolize to you and how they make you feel. Does that framed vacation photo make you feel warm fuzzies, or bring up memories of the big fight you and your spouse got into on that trip? Items that make you feel guilty, sad, remind you of an ex, etc, should most likely go.

The last few chapters of the book leave behind the basic idea of a neater house and delve into things like cleansing your body, mental and emotional clutter, etc. Those might be a bit too new-agey for some people just looking for tips on a neater home, but you can take them or leave them depending on your interest level.

I hate to keep comparing this book to “Life Changing Magic…” but it’s such an easy reference point since the topics are similar and most of you have probably read it by now. I have to admit that while I found the philosophy of this book more practical and it definitely inspired to shake up the stagnant energy that having clutter sitting around is probably causing in my house, it didn’t inspire me to instant action in the same way that the “Life Changing Magic…” book did. I think both books have their merits, so if the Kon Marie method wasn’t quite your thing, I’d definitely suggest giving this one a try for a different perspective.

Deep South by Paul Theroux

As a big travel nerd, I’ve probably read at least 70% of the books in the travel section of any given library or bookstore. If you’re like me and hang out in the ol’ 900’s aisles of non-fiction, it’s almost impossible not to be familiar with Paul Theroux, who has written a whole host of books about his travels, as well as edited plenty of collections like those “Best American Travel Writing, Whatever year” books. I doubt he’s everyone’s cup of tea – his books tend to be long and detailed, full of history, and although they have funny moments they’re not exactly laugh a minute comedies. Still, Paul is the guy that taught me that the UK is shaped like a witch riding a pig, and I hold a lot of affection for him. When this book popped up on NetGalley (where I got it free in exchange for an honest review, like all the cool kids tend to do these days), I did a little dance of joy and requested it ASAP. It has taken me a couple of months to get through (mostly because I read like 5 different books at once, partly because it’s the kind of book that just takes time and is about 400 pages long.), but I finally finished this morning just in time for my review post!

As you might guess from the title, this one is about Theroux’s travels in the American South. I grew up in southwest Missouri, which is kinda south, but I’m hoping to do more traveling in the “real” south soon, since I’ve mostly just driven through when moving to Florida and back. There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to the deep south of this book (which mostly features the Mississippi Delta area, land of amazing blues music), and I’m still not totally sure how I feel about the author’s take on it. I might be tumbling some of it around in my head for a while, but that’s a good thing.

One of the first points in this book that struck me was the idea about how there are two different “Souths” – the southern Gone with the Wind plantations, sweet tea, magnolia blossoms, Hart of Dixie south you think of (probably) most often when picturing the area, but also the rural, very poor south, which is where Theroux does most of his exploring in this book. When he brought up the concept of two different definitions of the South, I immediately thought of Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside resort, which is divided into huge southern plantation mansion style buildings in Magnolia Bend, and Aligator Bayou, which is much more rustic and swampy. (Sorry, guys, I worked at Disney World for 3 years. These are my points of reference for life.) He mentions frequently that the poverty he sees in these forgotten parts of the South are on par with what he’s seen traveling in third world countries, and yet while the US sends billions of dollars in aide to help those in need across the globe (as we should), hardly any funds go to those living in conditions just as poor here at home.

Most of the chapters are quite short, to the point that it’s almost more like a long series of short essays or quick scenes than a continuous narrative. Unlike most travel books which cover a single visit to a place, Theroux ended up making four trips – one during each season, often revisiting places and getting to see how they have changed (or stayed the same) since his last theme there a few months before.

This book felt so much different from Theroux’s other works, since instead of far-off islands or exotic-sounding destinations halfway around the globe, he’s writing about (almost literally) places practically in my own back yard. (The last section of the book s spent traveling through Arkansas, and I live like 10 minutes from the Arkansas state line.)

If you followed my old blog, you might remember that I blogged about that exact billboard a couple of years ago when I drove through Arkansas on my way to New Orleans!

Given the book’s setting, race is obviously a huge theme. I found it especially interesting to read about the history given the charged feelings over recent events like Ferguson, Tamir Rice, and the whole Black Lives Matter movement.

Note – I felt super guilty that I had this book for several months before I got around to reviewing it, but I just realized when grabbing the cover image that no, it wasn’t published in October 2015, it WILL BE published in October 2016! Oops? At least I’m really early with a review for once!

 

 The Sinner’s Grand Tour by Tony Perrottet

I spotted this book at the library while browsing the travel books and couldn’t resist. Travel AND racy history? SOLD! Im so glad that I stumbled upon it, because it was definitely a fun read. The author travels around Europe (wife and kids in tow) to visit some of history’s more scandalous sites, like Cassanova’s favorite parts of Venice, the Marquis de Sade’s old home and dungeons, and even the secret bathroom in the Vatican covered in erotic paintings by Raphael.

While this probably isn’t your kind of book if something like the word “penis” makes you blush, it’s really not that provocative at all. There are definitely amusing and interesting stories, but nothing gets TOO graphic. That said, I absolutely have to share this photo from the book – it’s a sketch of the plans for the sex chair that King Edward VII designed to be built for him when he got too fat for sexytimes with the ladies without crushing them.

I especially like the top hat.

(Keeping the image small in case your terribly wide-eyed and innocent kid walks through the room, but you can click to delight in the silliness of the larger version.)

Thumbs up for this one if you like history, especially the less conventional stuff that you don’t find in the guidebooks. (I started a biography of Edward VII, aka Bertie, last year but haven’t gotten around to finish it. I wonder now if the author will mention his fancy Chair-o-fun?)

I’d love to hear what you’re reading lately, and don’t forget to check out the Show Us Your Books link-up at the top of this post to see what other bloggers have been loving (or throwing across the room) this month!

Books I’m currently reading:

          

Yes, I’m one of those people who reads like half a dozen books at once!