Dodgers By Bill Beverly

This book is an easy read and it’s fun to read, in a page-turner sort of way, and it seems to have things to say about the setting of the story, which is about four teen-aged African American youths who are sent by their gangster boss to travel by car from LA to Wisconsin, there to kill a eyewitness to an earlier gangster assassination. These are young guys; the character is 15 and the chosen trigger man is 13.

The character, East, knows nearly zero about the world beyond his housing project, the Boxes, so we enjoy that rather easy desire of seeing the surprise and wonder of someone finding out what we already know all about. Extraordinarily, we don't have to suspend suspicion all that much to accept this unbelievable journey by four young associates of an urban organized crime gang.

But the characters? I feel about East and his regiment sort of how I used to feel about movie characters in TV and movies back in the 1950s and 60s, the ones with an African American couple who confronted cruel prejudice by the white middle class. Just in case we missed the vivid elements, the African American couple was a perfect example of the middle class ideal: Nice-looking, perfectly clean, smart, and very well spoken, with no obvious accent. It didn't take an Einstein to notice that the only protest anyone could have to these paragons of middle class virtue would be merest prejudice; the smugness was just too obvious for a serious viewer, however (though they kept making those shows).

East is not that humble. He is difficult and captivating; he has managed to construct an identity out of rough elements in a harsh, demanding world. But his English is too good. He doesn't sound like a boy from the Box with no education and no middle class friends. He wasn't believable enough to make me appreciate what a remarkable character Brewer has gunned up for us.
“This book was sent to me by Blogging For Books . “

Black Earth By: Timothy Snyder

If you are a history enthusiast this book is for you. I suggest that you borrow it from your local library, a friend, or go purchase it.

Timothy Snyder’s BLACK EARTH offers a distinctive view of (debatably) history’s greatest evil by focusing on the elements that enabled such “uncomplicated” mass-killing
The main dispute of Snyder’s book is that the Holocaust was made possible by the annihilation of the identity of the state in various countries. While it wouldn’t have been imaginable without Hitler’s murderous racial beliefs, it would have been far more challenging to instrument had not the right political surroundings existed in the various countries which the Nazis captured. Where the state retained its prewar political, governmental and legal machinery far fewer Jews were killed; where it did not Jews saw almost complete annihilation of their communities. And it is this stress on the state as the enabler or disabler of the Holocaust that leads Snyder to see both alarming involvement and confidence in human nature. This is because the state is ours; it is not foreign. We own state deserting us is far unfavorable that any kind of foreign assault.
The key role that the protection or annihilation of the state played in saving the lives of Jews is deceptive in the fact that the huge majority of Jews – including German Jews - were killed by the Nazis in stateless regions. These regions were either actively created by them or already existed in Eastern European nations because of preceding Soviet occupation. Where the Soviets had already caused annihilation of the state the Nazis found a practicable population that was more willing to aid them in classifying, exiling and murdering Jews. This non-Jewish population was driven in many cases by simple greed or a desire to return to a more comfortable way of life by intruding on Jewish assets or Jewish property, and they could act out their grubby desires exactly because no state existed to interfere. The elimination of the Jews removed struggle and made it suitable for them to climb a social and economic ladder that was formerly unapproachable to them. Bitterness against the Soviet Union further drove their involvement.
This book is an eye opener to our present lives. I believe that with the Donald Trump as president we will see a new Hitler emerge; this Hitler will not just annihilate the Jews, Poles, German Jews but the entire human race. “This book was sent to me by Blogging For Books . “

Everything Beautiful: A Coloring Book for Reflection and Inspiration by WaterBrook

I actually enjoy adult coloring books, but I loathe the ones that have a million petite bits and pieces that need to be colored in. I favor to color using markers for the petite bits and pieces, colored pencils for the main image, and the pages in this book are perfect for those who use markers unaccompanied or accompanied with colored pencils. They are moderately thick, however there is some bleeding onto the back of the page but since each page is single-sided, and this isn't problematic at all. This coloring book was received from Blogging For Books and I also purchased this book from Amazon to give to a friend as a gift.

Marked in Ink by Megan Massacre

This is my first adult coloring book and I must say that Megan Massacre has me addicted. As some of you might know Ms. Megan was on the show NY INK and I must say I loved her work then and I am now in love with her adult coloring book. Some people say " Well isn't it just like coloring in a regualr coloring book. And are you not over 40 don't you think that is a childish act." Um hell no! Coloring has always relaxed me, helped with my anxiety and has taken me way from reality just for a bit to an imaginary place where there is no evil or harm being done to another soul.
I will say that when I got the book there are a couple of images in there I can't bring myself to color. Nothing wrong with them but they hold a special meaning to me. Those images won't be colored until I go out, purchase a couple of these books, and then when they are colored I will frame them and place them throughout my home. The images I am talking about are the following: the heart with keys, the pitbull, the dreamcatcher, the owls, and the ship. The other images I know have meaning behind them for some of my siblings and cousins so these images will be colored, framed and given to them for Christmas gifts.
I am hoping that Megan Massacre will come out with another adult coloring book. Thank you Ms. Massacre for sharing your work with us so we can put our creative spin on them. Also thank you to Blogging For Books for offering this as a freebie.

What happened to Miss. Simmone By: Alan Light

This book delves into the life of Nina Simone, although not as in depth as expected. This book is a great primer. As someone who wasn't familiar with Miss Simone's work it gave me a great picture of her life and what she's known for the most. We get a good impression of the struggles Miss Simone faced and her behavior at the time. While all-inclusive, it doesn't really answer the question at hand of what happened. There are a lot of assumptions thrown around and not a lot of solid answers. The author has composed the story of an amazing woman. By using song lyrics, journals, letters, and interviews (with Simone and with family and friends), Mr. Light has restored a full account of Simone's rise to stardom and her complex life. She could perform any kind of music, and the accounts tell of her mastery in musical genres as varied as classical piano, jazz, blues, gospel, show tunes, and protest music. The movement behind the scenes is nearly as hypnotic as her music. Readers learn of her stormy relationship with her second husband, Andrew Stroud (whom she married even after he had beaten her severely), along with her later interactions with political leaders in other countries.

At times booklovers can only shake their heads in astonishment at all her accomplishments, while at others they may cry at her self-destructive actions Whether you are a fan of Simone's from her start back in the 1950s, learned about her from protest music in the '60s, or perhaps found her through the presence of her songs in advertisements or flicks such as the 1992 "Point of No Return," you will come away from this book with an outstanding image of the woman behind the music.

The little Paris bookshop By: Nina George

The little Paris Bookshop is a remarkably rational read for as light as it is. The bare basic of this book might be Monsieur Perdu's bookshop and his finally coming to terms with his own past, but there is a remarkable amount of psychology crammed in every other page.

As an avid reader it is always more gratifying to read an author who loves books and is well read themselves.. We all know how satisfying it is to find a book that will suspend or griefs, realities, change our perceptions, lives or simply divert us on a level we were until that moment unaware even existed.

It is easier to have comprehension into the lives of others than it is to grasp our own. Ms. George reverberations that you can learn about a person within 5 minutes of a conversation; with Perdu's inherent perception on what would be a good read that would help others.; of course the same man locked away an complete room in his house for 20 years just to elude reading a letter and the reader will pick up instantaneously on his own serious struggle to self-diagnosis. Logically he will be driven forward when his philanthropy to a neighbor produces an unintentional involvement of sorts that forces him to address his past dissatisfactions and sorrows to heal his-self.

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