Currently Reading

Things that have been going through my mind lately:  love, positivity, passion, reading.  

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The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood - Charmaine and Stan are living in their car, fighting to stay alive day to day.  The economy has gone to shit and all the income they can rely on are Charmaine's tips at a sketchy bar.  Then they hear about Consilience, a community where its population is imprisoned for thirty days, and then free for thirty days, working separate jobs each cycle.  Charmaine and Stan are given a home, which they switch over to another couple when it's their month for prison.  As odd as this sounds, it feels like it is working for the first few months.  Although there is to be no communication between the couples, that doesn't quite work out.  What is really going on behind the scenes in Consilience?  This is a dark, sci-fi thriller, but it didn't grab me the way I hoped it would.  Margaret Atwood is still my homegirl though.  

The Big Fear by Andrew Case - The Big Fear is a noir-ish thriller set in summertime New York City.  Ralph Mulino is a veteran cop who is called out to a bizarre assignment to investigate an incident on a boat.  Once he gets out there, he realizes that something strange is going on and ends up shooting a man on board.  That man ends up also being a police officer.  Leonard Mitchell is the investigator assigned to the case who quickly discovers that there are big chunks of the story missing here.  He and Mulino reluctantly team up to find out what's really going on.  This was a well-written, well-paced, fun read.  

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - Julia is eleven years old.  She goes to school, plays with her best friend, and has a crush on a boy in her class.  One morning, everything changes.  The rotation of the Earth begins to slow.  The days become longer.  The nights become longer.  There is speculation over how agriculture will be affected.  People split into two factions: those who sleep when it is dark and are awake when it is light and those who attempt to stick to a 24-hour day, regardless of what is happening outside.  This is a fascinating concept, shown through the eyes of a child attempting to absorb and understand it all.  A wonderful piece of work.

Andersonville by Edward M. Erdelac - This book is not going to be for everyone, but I LOVED it.  Ok, short synopsis:  Barclay, a black man posing as a Union soldier, sneaks into the South's deadliest prison on a secret mission.  However, before he can carry out that mission, he has to simply stay alive in this horrific place, run by sadistic Confederate leaders who allow abusive prisoners, known as Raiders, to terrorize whomever they please.  We've got a Civil War story, a POW story, a prison camp story, so there's enough horror to go around.  Then things get supernatural in a terrifying way.  Without giving away too much, the horror of Andersonville Prison is not merely man-made.  There are supernatural beasts who essentially feed on human suffering also in play.  I say this book isn't for everyone because it's extremely graphic at times and incredibly violent throughout.  But there is a fantastic story here.