Review: Reefer Madness

Title:  Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

Author:  Eric Schlosser

Published:  April 1, 2004

# of Pages:  352

ISBN:  0618446702

My Rating:  3/5

America”s black market is much larger than we realize, and it affects us all deeply, whether or not we smoke pot, rent a risqué video, or pay our kids’ nannies in cash. In Reefer Madness the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation turns his exacting eye on the underbelly of the American marketplace and its far-reaching influence on our society. Exposing three American mainstays — pot, porn, and illegal immigrants — Eric Schlosser shows how the black market has burgeoned over the past several decades. He also draws compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, and how big business learns — and profits — from the underground. Schlosser blends big-picture analysis, intrepid reporting, and fascinating character studies to paint “an enthralling yet appalling portrait of things too often ignored” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Reefer Madness is a powerful investigation that illuminates the shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow. 

I picked up Reefer Madness as an audiobook on a whim at the library.  I thoroughly enjoyed Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and was interested to see what else he has to offer.  Reefer Madness was interesting and well-researched, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations (I just hate that, don’t you?). 

First, the good.  The book was EXTREMELY well-researched.  I mean, I learned just about everything there is to know about the American black market as it relates to marijuana, the porn industry, and illegal immigrant labor.  I have to say that this isn’t necessarily a topic that I would have read about were I not already a fan of Schlosser, and I also have to say that Schlosser’s meticulous research and attention to detail drew me in and made me want to be interested in these topics.  So for anyone already interested in this stuff, I’d say that this is a must-read.  Also, Schlosser is very compelling.  His arguments for why he believes marijuana should be decriminalized in the United States, for why labor laws should be better even when dealing with illegal immigrants, etc., are extremely convincing.  He really knows what he’s talking about, and he’s super passionate about this stuff, and it really shows.

Here’s what I didn’t like – first of all, the book was s.l.o.w. in parts.  Seriously.  For a book about the black market, which you’d think would be more on the exciting side, portions of the book just dragged.  And the other criticism that I have is that I’m still having a hard time totally understanding how these three topics are related.  I mean, I get how they are all bought and sold on the black market, but I don’t feel like Schlosser effectively used transitions and other devices to tie everything together.  It was more like three separate sections with only a rough analysis of how they are related at the end.

Overall, Reefer Madness was a pretty interesting book, but I have trouble recommending it 100%.  I’d recommend it for super non-fiction fans and for those with an interest in the American black market (or one of the three topics individually).

California, here I come!

Hey everyone, just wanted to take a second to let you all know that I won’t be around for the remainder of the week.  I’m going to San Diego EARLY Wednesday morning for my brother’s graduation from boot camp (Marines).  I’ll be gone Wednesday-Friday, but I have a ton to do today and tomorrow in anticipation of being gone.  

I have posts scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday, but other than that I won’t be blogging, reading your blogs, commenting, etc.  I won’t have internet access out there so I won’t even get your comments until I return on Saturday or Sunday.

But please, comment away anyway!  I will probably spend a large part of my Sunday blogging and going through my google reader.  I hope you all enjoy your weeks – I’m certainly hoping that I will!

WG: Linky linky

Yay!  One of my FAVORITE things that Dewey did is back to remind us of how awesome she was – linking to our friends!  Here is the Weekly Geek topic this week:

When Dewey started Weekly Geeks, one of the first projects she encouraged us to do was link our book reviews to each other. Sadly, I’ve fallen of the wagon on this one. For people like me who need a refresher and for all the new Weekly Geeks this is a topic that could use repeating.

Let’s look at Dewey’s original post : Dewey’s post.

Here’s what we’ll do:

1. Write a post encouraging readers to look through your archives (if you have your reviews in a particular place on your blog, point them there), and find the books that they have also written reviews. Tell them to leave a link to their review on your review post. For example, I’ve written a review for Gods Behaving Badly and Jane Doe leaves a link to her review of Gods Behaving Badly in the comments section of my review.

2. Edit your reviews to include those links in the body of the review post.

3. Visit other Weekly Geeks and go through their reviews. Leave links for them.

4. Leave a note somewhere on your blog to let people know this is your new policy.

5. Write a post later this week letting us know how your project is going!

This is a big undertaking but as Dewey put it, it’s ‘community building’. Have fun!

Ok, so I’ve been doing the linking thing since Dewey started it.  I used to have the policy posted on the blog but then I was linking to everyone else for so long that I kinda just figured everyone knew that I was doing that, so no need.  You guys tell me – should I have the policy posted?  Or is it implied by the fact that I always link to other people when I can find other reviews?

Either way, here’s my review directory.  If I have reviewed something that you have also reviewed, and you don’t see your review on the post, just comment on that post and let me know and I’ll add it right away.  Simple, no?  And don’t be shy – I love linking to you guys, and of course in turn I also love to see MY reviews linked on other blogs!  See, that’s what’s so great about this idea – community.  We all love and support each other.  Yay.

Time to herd those cats once again!

Renay is hosting the Herding Cats challenge again this year!  And even though I bailed on this one last year (as I did with the vast majority of the challenges I signed up for), I’m doing WAY better with keeping up on challenges this year and I couldn’t resist this one.  Plus, it’s super low-key and I don’t feel pressured to read any certain number of books, which is fantastic.  Here are the “rules” (copied directly from Renay):

Herding Cats II: Attack of the Hairballs (April 1st, 2009 – December 31st, 2009)

Last year this project garnered excessive amounts of attention, more than I ever expected. It really was just an epic plot to get Dewey and owlmoose and not_cynical to read two tons of my recommendations (note: it almost worked!). It became more, like do-I-seriously-have-50-plus-participants more. Answer: yes. Reaction: oh shi

Here are the guidelines to Herding Cats II:

1. Make a list of five books you love. Directions:

• Five. I’m as serious as a beached whale.
• All titles must be books you’ve read in 2007, 2008 or 2009.
• Please don’t list a series; just the first book. If you really want to list a book in the middle of a series, you can, but it has to be that specific book.
• Feel free to share why you’re putting the book on your list, because I am nosy.

2. Post your list:

• in your own journal, in the comments here, whatever is fine. Share the link to the list here.
• Lists should be public (no locked entries, no logging in to view).

3. Browse the new book list. Stay a while. Read a few (eta: if you want; not even reading is required this time around if you don’t have time to commit to a new challenge but still want to share your favorites).

4. If you review your books, you can share the reviews. You know, if you want. No pressure. Definitely not.

The home page for this project is at http://www.echthroi.org/getliterate/herdingcats/ (or http://tinyurl.com/cdxk45). If you twitter, feel free to #herdcats over there.

So, here are my five books…

1.  The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle (review here)

2.  We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (review here)

3.  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (I don’t have a review posted for this one, but I’m reasonably certain that I read it in 2007 right before I started blogging.)

4.  Looking for Alaska by John Green (review here)

5.  Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (review here)

And as of this point I have no clue what I’ll be reading from the master list… but you can bet the books will be fantastic!

Review: Blue Water

Title:  Blue Water

Author:  A. Manette Ansay

Published:  April 11, 2006

# of Pages:  288

ISBN:  978-0688172879

Rating:  5/5

On an ordinary morning in Fox Harbor, Wisconsin, Meg and Rex Van Dorn’s lives are irrevocably changed when a drunk driver slams into Meg’s car, killing the couple’s six-year-old son, Evan. In a town in which everyone knows everybody else, it’s no surprise that Meg and the driver, Cindy Ann Kreisler, were once the best of friends. Now, as Meg recovers from her own injuries, she and Rex find themselves unable to cope with their anger and despair, especially after Cindy Ann returns — with a mere slap on the wrist — to the life she lived before the accident: living in a beautiful house, enjoying her own three daughters, all of whom walked away from the accident unharmed.

In their rage and grief, Meg and Rex buy a boat to sail around the world, hoping to put as much distance between themselves and Cindy Ann Kreisler as possible. Adrift in the company of other live-board cruisers, Meg tries to believe that she and Rex have left their bitterness behind. But when she returns to Fox Harbor for her older brother’s wedding, she is forced to face the complex ties that bind her to the woman who has wounded her so badly. For, as Meg knows better than anyone, Cindy Ann has secrets and sorrows of her own, dating back to the summer of their friendship.

Impassioned, insightful, and beautifully written, Blue Water is the story of people learning to face the unthinkable — a compelling affirmation of the human potential for forgiveness, redemption, and grace.

Blue Water is a quiet novel, mostly a character-driven novel, but for me, it made a huge impact.  The characters are drawn perfectly – they are highly imperfect people, every single one of them, with plenty of flaws, but through the novel you really got to know them inside and out.  The book moves along slowly, and the interesting thing about it is that what you expect to be the pivotal, confrontational, HUGE moment, kind of isn’t.  It just happens, but it feels so natural – like how events would occur in real life… everyone continues to exist, and lives change, and people get up, go to work, etc., even though what you were waiting for throughout the entire book actually happened.  It’s hard to explain, because I hate giving away plot spoilers, but trust me, it’s fantastic the way Ansay wrote that part of the story.

I loved Blue Water.  Loved it.  And I can’t say why, exactly, because it’s hard for me to understand it myself.  But when I put the book down, after I turned its final page, I was just overcome with emotion.  Not necessarily overly happy or overly sad – I just FELT for these characters.  These are my favorite kinds of books – the ones that leave you thinking, leave you feeling, long after you finish them.  If you enjoy character-driven novels with enormous plot lines in the background, Blue Water is not to be missed.

Winner of Winter in Madrid

The winner is B!!

The winner has already been contacted by email, if I don’t hear back in a few days I will pick someone else.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

Review: Willing Spirits

Title:  Willing Spirits

Author:  Phyllis Schieber

Published:  reprint edition with Book Club guide inside — March 3, 2009

# of Pages:  292

ISBN:  978-0425225851

My Rating:  4.5/5

Both teachers, both in their forties, Jane Hoffman and Gwen Baker have a friendship that has helped them endure.  It was Jane who looked after Gwen when her husband left her to raise two young sons alone.  And when Jane comes home one day unexpectedly and finds her husband in a shameless act of betrayal, she immediately turns to Gwen for support.

Now, tested by additional personal crises, Jane and Gwen face new challenges – as mothers, as daughters, as women.  And in the process, they will learn unexpected truths about their friendship – and themselves.

I toured Schieber’s The Sinner’s Guide to Confession a few months ago and really enjoyed the book, so when I was offered the option of touring Willing Spirits too, I absolutely jumped at the chance.  Based on my first experience with Schieber I knew that I would enjoy this book, but it really surprised me just how much I ended up loving it.  I’d have to say I even liked it more than Sinner’s - and I really wasn’t expecting to.

Willing Spirits is completely a character-driven novel.  The book centers around two women, Jane and Gwen, best friends in their forties, both with adult children (well, college-age), and the major, and not so major, events that are occurring in their present-day lives.  Interspersed with what’s going on now, the two women slowly reveal to the reader snippets of their pasts, so that when the book is over the reader knows a LOT about these two women.  I mean, I really felt like I knew these women – better than I know some people in my real life even.

Both women are flawed but extremely likeable.  Both women have made mistakes in their lives, but they also have both dealt with some pretty hard things.  Nothing major, really – there is no suicide, drugs, eating disorders, cancer, losing children, etc. – none of the “issues” that you typically find in these kinds of books.  The story, rather, is about a bunch of little things that make up womens’ lives – the fact that how our parents raise us can really shape our marriages and our own parenting styles, the small decisions that we make that, together, can easily add up to an unfulfilled life, and the simple truth that a best friend can make all the difference in the world when dealing with all the little things life throws at you. 

The book really just spoke to me.  I think that’s the only way to put it.  I have almost zero in common with these women, on the surface, but I can see parts of myself in both of them.  And something about the way Schieber drew these characters and their relationships felt very authentic to me.  I really related to both Jane and Gwen, and I think that many women will see aspects of their own lives reflected in the ladies of Willing Spirits.

Willing Spirits was just re-released with a brand new cover (pretty, isn’t it?) and a book club guide in the back.  I think the book would be a fantastic choice for womens’ book clubs – tons of stuff to discuss, and I think almost all women will be able to relate to the book on some level.

Highly recommended.

More reviews -

• Amy at My Friend Amy
• Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books

Review: The Truth About Forever

Title:  The Truth About Forever

Author:  Sarah Dessen

Published:  April 6, 2006

# of Pages:  400

ISBN:  978-0142406250

My Rating:  4/5

Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She’s stuck with a dull-asdishwater job at the library. And she’ll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father’s recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother’s open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it…. 

I am a fan of Sarah Dessen.  I think she writes teens very well.  She writes characters that are very real, that teens can really relate to, that I would want to be friends with if I were their age.  The Truth About Forever is no different – I related to Macy immediately, and right away, I just wanted things to start going right for her.  I wanted her mom to be more open with her, I wanted her to get rid of her jerk boyfriend, and I wanted her to just enjoy her life.  I also liked Wes.  He wasn’t as developed as I would have liked him to be, but I enjoyed reading about how his and Macy’s friendship grew, and developed into something more (even when neither of them supposedly realized that’s what was going on).  

The Truth About Forever wasn’t as amazing as Just Listen, however (my favorite Dessen book, by far).  Unfortunately, I now compare every YA romance type book that I read to that one, and most don’t live up.  It’s ok – this one was still good.  It was just missing a little something that Just Listen had… some extra oomph.  Still a good book, though.  I liked it, I stayed up late to finish it, and I’m glad I got to experience the characters’ journeys.  Solid YA.  As Dessen is so good at doing.  :)

More reviews -

• Stephanie at Open Mind, Insert Book
• Alessandra at Out of the Blue

Blogroll

So I’m playing around with the look of the blog, and it occurred to me that I haven’t updated my blogroll in forever.  Can you guys just take a quick look at the blogroll, and anyone who is not on it just comment letting me know?  Please don’t be shy – I’ve added a ton of blogs to my google reader but not transported them over here and I just don’t have the time to go through and double check and start adding that way.

So just speak up – let me know if I need to add you to my blogroll!  Thanks everyone!

WG – Historical Fiction

Let’s take a magical history tour this week, with a focus on Historical Fiction. That is, contemporary novels with a historical setting. I like to give choices, so here they are, pick the question(s) that appeal to you:

Is there a particular era that you love reading about? Tell us about it–give us a book list, if you’d like. Include pictures or some fun facts from that time period, maybe link to a website that focuses on that time. Educate us. 

Hmm, well I am quite a big fan of historical fiction, although I didn’t really know until a few years ago that I enjoy it as much as I do, so I don’t have a HUGE list of favorites like some people do.  However, I am partial to recent-ish history, like the World War II era, and I am also partial to multicultural historical fiction – books set in historical time periods but in another country other than the United States.  Hmm… let me give some examples.

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (my review)
• Atonement – Ian McEwan (my review)
• Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen – Michelle Moran (reviews here and here)
• The True Story of Hansel and Gretel – Louise Murphy (my review)
• Anything by Lisa See, especially Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
• Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson
• A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

Do you have a favorite book that really pulled you back in time, or perhaps gave you a special interest in that period? Include a link to a review of it on another book blog if you can find one (doesn’t have to be a Weekly Geek participant). 

My best answer to this question would have to be The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.  I fell head-over-heels in love with that book, its characters, and its rich descriptions of the time period.  The book sparked my interest in reading biblical fiction, although I have yet to find anything in the genre even close to as good as The Red Tent.  Suggestions, anyone?

A member of your book group, Ashley, mentions that she almost never reads Historical Fiction because it can be so boring. It’s your turn to pick the book for next month and you feel it’s your duty to prove her wrong. What book do you pick? 

I would have to say The Other Boleyn Girl, even though I know that is a super cliche answer.  The reason I would suggest that is because it was one of MY first historical fiction books, at least that I consciously understood to be historical fiction before picking the book up.  It’s fun, it’s addicting, and I think it would help someone realize that the genre is anything but boring.  I know it’s not the *best* example of historical fiction, but it is certainly an enjoyable book.

How about you?  What historical fiction do YOU enjoy?  Or if you aren’t into the genre, why not?  Would you be willing to give one of my suggestions a try?