Nightmares and Dreamscapes

The allure for this short story collection was that it was narrated by a cast of marvelous actors and actresses. Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Rob Lowe, Gary Sinese, Jerry Garcia, and more narrate this haunting and poetic short story collection by the master of horror. Some were doozies but others were utterly captivating. "Dolan's Cadillac" and "The End of the Whole Mess" were two of my favorites in this large collection. Overall a great read for fans of horror and Stephen King. Perhaps not his best short story collection, but readers will be sure to unearth a few gems that they won't soon forget.

Imbeciles

Utterly horrifying and captivating. Author, Adam Cohen, digs deep to shed light on America's horrifying obsession with eugenics by outlining the supreme court case of Carrie Buck, a young girl who was declared "feeble-minded" and sterilized. At the turn of the twentieth century America's elite were infatuated with the idea of strengthening the American race by practicing eugenics on those undesirables that society wanted to get rid of: imbeciles, criminals, people with physical and mental defects, epileptics, sexually promiscuous women and more. Nazi Germany used America's eugenics rhetoric, research, and court cases as a model for their racial cleansing plan. By the time it was finally considered faux pas and barbaric, more than 70,000 American's had been sterilized, most without their consent or knowledge. Meticulously researched (although sometimes a little bogged down with details on key figures), this book is a scary piece of America's past and very timely as bigotry continues to rise again.

United States of Jihad

An absolutely astounding and eye opening account of America's homegrown terrorists. Peter Bergen does a marvelous job researching nearly 500 American terrorists and breaking down why they choose to go lone-wolf or join a terrorist organization and kill others. He talks about ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and lone wolf terrorists not affiliated with any Muslim extremist groups. It puts a new perspective on a scary, ever changing subject. Bergen breaks down the appeals of different groups, what the government is trying to do to prevent terrorism, and what ordinary citizens can do to help curb the violence. It's a masterful book and it really makes you think. Here are some sound bites I found particularly compelling:

"... in the years after 9/11, an American residing in the United States was around five thousand times more likely to be killed by a fellow citizen with a gun than by a terrorist inspired by the ideology of Osama bin Laden."

"Among the 330 militants examined for this book, none of the generalizations hold. Their average age is twenty-nine; more than a third are married and a similar proportion have children; 12% have served time in prison, compared to 9% of the American male population, while around 10% had mental health issue, a lower incidence than in the general population. They are, on average, as well educated and emotionally stable as the typical citizen. They are ordinary Americans."

A fantastic and compelling book. A must read for our trying times.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased book review.

Dodgers

Gritty, raw, and almost unbelievable. An urban coming of age tale that features several young black teenagers from the LA ghetto driving cross country to murder a judge for their boss. Their crew rolls four deep; East, the most level headed and obedient (also the story's protagonist), Michael, the oldest, yet least responsible, Walter, a fat geek, and Ty, East's younger hot headed brother. Together they must drive from California to Michigan, avoid getting busted by cops and somehow not murder each other on the way. Beautifully written and masterfully told this book will have wide appeal. Fast paced, and filled with strong, unforgettable characters this is one of the best debuts of the year.

I received this book for free from Library Thing in return for my honest, unbiased review.

Clusterf@#k

The reviews on this were great so I was glad to finally get my copy and jump right in, I was not disappointed! It's a little bizarre (but in a good way), and it's super engrossing and fast paced. Two private investigators, Jim and Karl, find themselves in over their heads after the routine capture of a wizard. Soon they realize that he isn't the most evil thing they'll have to face, gangster vampires, werewolves, and the most corrupt of all... government agents. Thankfully they have the help of an odd little goat-man and Karl is able to transform into a bad ass demon when needed. Jim is just a smart-ass, but he has his moments. Will that be enough to save the day? Full of sarcastic wit and other odd little gems, this is a great new series. I hope there is more to come!

Deadpool

Besides the movie this was my first foray into the world of Deadpool and I was not disappointed. Some of the scenes in this collection were even part of the movie! While this collection was a little on the gory/violent side it wasn't too bad, I was expecting more language and sex jokes, but it wasn't too over the top. I wouldn't feel bad recommending this first volume to teenagers. This collection has Wolverine, Black Widow, Ant-Man and others in the Marvel universe so there is a little something for everyone. Deadpool is irreverent, sarcastic, belligerent, and hilarious. A great introduction and I look forward to reading more!

Why The Grateful Dead Matter

If you had asked me a decade ago if I ever thought that I'd be listening to The Grateful Dead or any other hippie jam band music I most likely would have laughed. I grew up a heavy metal kid and even though I am still a fan of screaming guitar and growling vocals, I've begun to branch out more musically as of late (we all have friends who are bad influences). Had I not read any other Grateful Dead material before this or had a tried and true Deadhead as a friend I would have had a hard time understanding what in the hell was going on in this collection. It's composed of 34 short essays on why The Grateful Dead is more than "just a band." The author talks about their live performances, their humble beginnings, their drug use, the academic study of them and the cult following they created. It's a touching tribute but I don't think that many non-Deadheads will be converted, it's a tribute for the millions of fans already out there. Some essays were miles better than others but this little collection will still please many a hippie and will have Dead heads nodding their heads in agreement at the amazingness and importance of the Dead.

I received this book for free from Library Thing in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.