Black and Blue- Anna Quindlen

An Oprah's book club book that I definitely do not recommend. This book is a fictional story about a woman that left her abusive husband by taking her son into hiding. The book tells the story of her transition to her new identity and life while flashing back to life with her husband. It clearly explains the vicious cycle of love and forgiveness that the main character experienced during her marriage and that happens all to often in abusive relationships. I found the bookto be sort of textbook in it's description of spousal abuse and it didn't really bring anything new to the table. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't anything to write home about either.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven- Mitch Albom

Everybody talks about this book and on the recommendation of a friend I read it. It was cute, but it really wasn't worth all the talk. I guess the idea is to maybe give people a different perspective of what death is all about. I think I've had enough time here in Burkina to think about a number of topics including death to the point of exhaustion so I didn't really get too much out of it. To sum it up I'd say the main point is that everything in life is not always about you and sometimes you need to consider how your actions and inactions affect others. It's too short of a book not to read so you might as well get this one out of the way just to say you read it.

One For The Money- Janet Evanovich

The first book in a series about a laid-off lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter. The lead character is strapped for cash and reluctantly contacts her (yes HER) bondsman cousin (or maybe it's uncle) to do a few jobs for some quick money. Turns out the target is a childhood friend/ex that was involved in a shooting and skipped bail. Generally, the book is witty and story entertaining and it was a quick read. I look forward to the second.

Citizen Coors- Dan Baum

This book documents the Coors legacy in Golden, Colorado. To think it all started with the German immigrant who wanted to start a brewery. The Coors family diversified to also open a malt house, grow their own barley, create a ceramics plant and are the inventors of the modern day aluminum can (steel was used before). Believe it or not, most of these spin-offs were in an effort to exercise complete control of the quality and flavor of the beer. They even went as far as changing the weather (spraying the air with salt to induce rain) on their barley fields during times of drought and bending a river to divert floodwaters from drowning their brewery. I was recently in Golden and the Coor's property is sprawling. The book is longish and took me forever, but I definitely recommend it to the curious types who like to know a little bit about everything like me.

We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families- Philip Gourevitch

It's hard to believe that something as terrible as the Holocaust happened within the past century, but what's worse is that it happened again less than 30 years ago in a little country called Rwanda. This book is Gourevitch's un-biased attempt to shed light on the mass extermination/ethnic cleansing of the Tutsi people. The movie Hotel Rwanda was based on facts contained in this book. It reads more as a record of accounts/interviews that the author had than an actual story. Everyone has a responsibility to know the story of Rwanda and this book is one way to do that.

A Pirate Looks at Fifty- Jimmy Buffett

I’m not quite the parrothead I one day aspire to be, but even so, I still couldn’t help thinking how full of himself Jimmy Buffet is. The entire book is like a tribute to himself and all of the things he’s been privilege to (almost all material things). He talked way too much about all of the planes he’s purchased and went on to describe minute details of his flights (i.e., I did a safety check before taking my seat in the pilot’s chair). This was another case where I just couldn’t relate to anything I was reading. I think only the die-hard fan could appreciate this book and that’s just because he’s crazed in his obsession of Mr.Buffett.

Dispatches From A Not-So-Perfect Life- Faulkner Fox

Yawn….It’s not to say that life for a woman with a husband, child and house isn’t interesting because I’m sure it is, but this woman’s story was booooring. She talked about how she and her feminist husband had made a plan where they would equally share childcare and household responsibilities, but the reality was actually quite different. She was still doing the lion’s share of the house cleaning and childcare (to the point that she started making a miles plan for all the work she did to earn herself a break). She goes back and forth a million times trying to figure out why and how this happened. I think she determined that it was mostly her fault for not being more greedy with her time because she was a freelance writer who worked from home and felt guilty choosing her work over her family. Even though I couldn’t relate to this woman’s story on any level, I do think I gained insight into the lives of some of my friends and understand a little more what they’re going through. Now if they could only understand what it’s like to be a single, dating woman in her late 20’s we might just have something to talk about.