"Spree Killers" Nigel Cawthorne

"Spree Killers" - Nigel Cawthorne

 

I found this book while roaming around Barnes and Noble's bargain books and just had to pick this up. I know what you're thinking.. what kind of a person gets excited about reading a book about spree killers unless they need to be put away in the Anchorage Psychiatric Institute... but I'm weird like that. I've always had a fascination with crime, horror and suspense books, movies, and tv shows. I don't really know why, but it's always been there.

 

Anyway... this book is jammed packed with a bunch of stories about spree killers. Spree killers are people who just snap. They randomly decide to go on a killing spree. This book discusses some of the famous spree killers that have happened in everyone's history, not just in the United States. It discusses people like George Hennard in Killen Texas, Genghis Khan the Mongol ruler, and Charles Starkweather of Nebraska (who's story was told in the cult movie Badlands in 1973).

 

This book doesn't read like legal proceedings, or a text book. It starts out telling one story, as if you were talking to the author face to face. As one story concludes, the next story is tied into the previous one, by means of a similar spree killing. The retellings are grouped into chapters by the different types of killings.

 

Even thought this book is pretty morbid, and most people don't want to know about more killing in the world, it's pretty informative. Spree killings are not something of the most recent times, it's been around for generations and generations. The thing that has changed is the availability of information. Now, we get play-by-plays of any sort of crime that happens. This makes it seem like we're living in a more dangerous time. This book, in a weird way, reminds me that we are not the first generation to suffer through pain and loss, and we won't be the last ones. This book grounds the paranoia of living in 2013 by showing that people who lived through the times in the book are still here and have survived the same things.

"The Elephant's Bathtub" - Frances Carpenter

"The Elephant's Bathtub" - Frances Carpenter

"The Elephant's Bathtub" is a collection of stories from East. They are similar to fairy tales and folk stories that teach morals. I was walking with my son through the children's section at the library (more like trying to keep up with him) and we finally stopped by the fair tale section. I wanted him to get something other than a cook book for once, so I told him to hold on and pick one out. He grabbed one and started off again towards the cds. I quickly scanned the shelves and grabbed one that looked interesting so I could read it to him. Since this book had the word "elephant" in the title it won out. So far I haven't read it to Atticus but have been consumed in it on my own time schedule. 

So far I have only read four stories. "The Elephant's Bathtub" originated from Burma and is a story about two merchants that lived on a river. It's kind of a story where the grass is greener on the other side of the fence story. It's pretty amusing and shows you a little bit into the culture surrounding royalty and the status of elephants. 

"The Fish with Bent Noses" is a story originating from Cambodia. The story has a moral about stealing and the consequences of what happens when you do so. It also has a cute little love story mixed into it between a princess and a suitor. 

"The Shah Weaves a Rug" comes to us from Persia. This story is about a great king who cares enough about his kingdom to see the world through one of his people that lives on the streets. In doing so, he's captured by a mysterious magic man and comes up with a most clever way to save not only himself but the people in his kingdom as well. 

"The Princess in the Camphor Tree" is originated in Malaya. This folk story has a little more complicated meaning to it. It's about sons who go into the woods as gathers and the youngest meets a princess of a different species. You could call her a tree spirit or something similar. He marries her, but the ending is not so happy because of one bad choice he was forced to make. 

There are a total of 24 short stories in this book, and so far they are quite enjoyable. It is an easy read (obviously being from the children's section) but I am learning about the culture through the way these stories are told. To me, this is one of the more interesting sets of tales I've read because they are pretty different than the typical tales I heard growing up as an American child. I also have a soft spot for learning about cultures, so this fulfills that as well. :) I'll continue to read this book, and highly suggest it to anyone, not just people with children. 

"Haunted America" - Armchair Reader

"Haunted America" - Armchair Reader

My new read is an easy, short stories read. After tackling a history-bound book, my brain needs a little break. What better way to do that then to read some "true" ghost stories from our homeland? Ok, so maybe I'm alone in the fact that ghost and murder stories give me a relaxing break, but it's all good. :)

"Haunted America" is composed of numerous short stories collected around America involving ghosts, haunted locations, and paranormal sightings. I'm not very far into the book yet, but so far I've read some interesting things. There is an introduction by paranormal experts explaining what ghosts really are. I've also read about angry spirits residing in an old slave house in Illinois. I've taken a short trip on a boat by reading about the spirits seen on the "Queen Mary" (which I didn't realize that it was once used as a war vessel, not always an ocean liner. The short story I read last night was about the bar "Bobby Mackey's", located in Kentucky. 

I find this book a good night-time read. The stories are approximately five pages long, give or take a few pages. The short stories are written in a more fact-based manner, but throw in little sentences of humor to keep the story going. They are not out to scare you, but to make you interested and think, kind of like Ripley's Believe It or Not episodes. So, if you're looking for an entertaining ghost story without the "scare me silly" feeling, then this would be a great book for you. For a second recommendation, if you cannot stay awake for more than five pages after your head hits the pillow, this is an especially good read. :) 

"Flapper" - Joshua Zeitz

"Flapper" - Joshua Zeitz

This book was a bit of a random card in my selection of books. I was wondering around the lousacc library with my four year old son, looking for a book to read on my plane ride to Juneau. In order to get him to behave I told him he could help me choose a book. At first he was steering me towards the romance novels... thankfully I diverted him to another section. I figured I'd pick out two books and let him choose which one he likes better. Yeah.. that worked like a brick floating. Instead, he walked up to a shelf, pulled out a novel, and said "HERE MOMMY! I FOUND ONE!" My first reaction was to put it back, but then I realized something. If I want to write a book blog about "random" books I read, then what better way to be random than to let my four year old loose in the library to choose what book I read. So, I read it, am almost done with it, and it was actually a great read. Go Atticus!

"Flapper" is all about the Jazz Age. It displays what the "modern woman" was back then. The scandalous dresses that showed women's knees, the drinking, the smoking, and the "necking" that went on. (Yes, this book actually uses the term "necking" quite often. I got a kick out of that!) At first I thought it was going to be a dull documentary book, but I actually found it quite interesting. I must say I did learn a lot about the Jazz Age that I didn't previously know.

In the book there are some prominent women of the Jazz Age discussed. There was Zelda Sayre, whom became F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife and that his characters in his book were based upon. In the book it says that this couple was said to "be" the Jazz Age. There was also CoCo Chanel. I never realized that the brand "Chanel" dated this far back, but it was interesting to read about it's beginnings and how much of a hard-ass boss she could be. There is also Louis Long, who wrote in the New Yorker under a different name about the life of a "modern woman", or a flapper, was like in New York. As part of her job, she went to clubs/bars and drank with the finest. She smoked when the men smoked. She partied all night with every type of person. She would even come to work smashed at 3 in the morning and sleep in her knickers until someone discovered her!

There are many different women and figures in this book that I can't even begin to touch on all of them. I had fun getting lost these different women's lives. It was interesting trying to image what it'd be like to live in the Jazz Age compared to what life is like now. For my recommendation, if you are interested in history, spunky women, and amusing drinking stories then this is a pretty good book to get a bit of it all. I'd say go to your local library and pick it up!

"Red Rain" - R.L. Stine

I'm still working my way through "Red Rain" but thoroughly enjoying it. The plot line is predictable, but there are little confusing parts thrown in there to keep you on your feet. It was awkward at first to hear R.L. Stine use cuss words. It reminded me of a preteen using cuss words. You understand what the word means, but it sounds misplaced coming from their mouth, and like less of an impact that it typically would be. I got used to it after awhile though.

"Red Rain" - R.L. Stine

"Red Rain" - R.L. Stine

If anyone knew me as a child, they would know how much of an R.L. Stine fan I was. It would be a rare sight not to see my nose stuck into one of his books. He was basically my hero. I swear that I must have had near 400 of his books. (Ok, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but as a military child packing up my R.L. Stine books to move took almost two hours by themselves!) My Mom would take me to garage sales to find the missing books in my Goosebumps collection. I had everything by him: Goosebumps, Fear Street, "Choose Your Own Adventure", etc. I was enamored by R.L. Stine until he wrote his first "young adult" book, "The Sitter". "The Sitter" was such a jump from what I was used to R.L. Stine writing that it put me in shock and stopped my fascination with his books. (That and I was in high school and had already read all the "teen" books he wrote.) With that introduction, once I saw he produced an adult book, I put my issues with "The Sitter" aside and had to read this book to give R.L. Stine a second chance in my life. 

I just finished the prologue and the first chapter. So far, so good. The style is familiar, like a long lost friend. That was very comforting to read. I missed his style of writing. The only major thing I have noticed that separates "Red Rain" from his younger targeted books is that the language and word usage is more mature. I can honestly say that I am glad to have an R.L. Stine book back in my hands and cannot wait to finish this book. :) I might have to dig out my old Goosebumps books from my parents garage and have a mini flashback fest. :) 

"Stonewall" - David Carter

"Stonewall" - David Carter

"Stonewall" is an in-depth look at the riots that triggered the gay revolution. Located in Greenwich Village, New York in 1969, these riots are the beginning of a new point of view towards gay, lesbian, and transgender people. Before these riots, people had no problem beating, publicly mocking, or even murdering people with different sexual preferences and attractions than the "normal" preferences and attractions. 

So far still in the first chapter learning the background of the gay community in Greenwich location. The book opens with an introduction about Tony Lauria, a son of the mafia community. Much to his father's dislike, he decides to open a gay bar with one of the unused properties owned by the mob his father runs. This bar, later, would be the location of the Stonewall riots. 

This book is a very informative book, not an interactive book like many of the other books I've written on this blog. I figured since we just passed Gay Pride Week in Anchorage, I would pick up a book and learn a little bit of the history of that particular way of life. Despite the first chapter being written similarly to a textbook format, I am quite drawn into the explanations of how people were treated in Greenwich Village, despite it being one of the top gay communities of it's time (and ironically enough any sort of gay or lesbian interaction was banned and punishable in Greenwich Village at that time). The way the book describes it, because the majority of the gay bars were owned by the Mob, the people who frequented those bars felt a certain sort of security and safety.. somewhat.