The Fish That Ate the Whale - Review

Author: Rich Cohen

Genre: Nonfiction

Format: Audiobook 

Hours: 6 hours

What in the hell was Sam Zemurray's life? I'm pretty sure this book has broken my brain. Because what did I actually just listen to? I thought I was going to get a book about bananas and a man who maybe took over a country in the process of being on top. I mean, I did get that, but what the actual hell was the rest of this book?

I discovered this book because a comedian did a bit about Sam Zumuray and mentioned the book. Which caught my attention, so I did a bit of research, and thought, while not my usual kind of book. Why not? Learn about bananas. What could go wrong?

So many things went wrong. So many.

At first, I was like, yes, Sam, tell the government where to stick it. Screw 'um. Then it sort of all went downhill from there, and the ripples affects of the choices Zemurray made from that point on are kind of still affecting us today.

He had a wild life that just kept getting crazier and crazier wth every passing minute. This book starts with a man with not many coming to this country, and I kid you not, ends with the Bay of Pigs. And, yes, those things are all connected. 

I don't even know how to do this book justice because I'm still sitting with it. This book is 6 hours long, but it took me about a week to listen to. There's just so much information,  so many new things I was learning, that I had to stop every few chapters to digest it. Though I learned so much and really liked this book.

Rich did so much research for this book, but I never felt overwhelmed with information. Just so much happens to this man and around this man that, in order to personally take it all in and really grasp it all, I had to stop and sort of soak it in. The great thing is that this book is easy to jump into. 

This is going to be one of those books that stays with me. How I've gone nearly forty years without knowing a single thing about this man, and he played such a part in such a long bit of US history. Woof.

.

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released, but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous folks at Breaking the Spine.

Ten suspects. Ten heists. A mystery only Ernest Cunningham can solve.

I've spent the last few years solving murders. But a bank heist is a new one, even for me. I've never been a hostage before.

The doors are chained shut. No one in or out. Which means that when someone in the bank is murdered, hostages become suspects.

THE BANK ROBBER
THE MANAGER
THE SECURITY GUARD
THE KID
THE FILM PRODUCER
THE PRIEST
THE RECEPTIONIST
THE PATIENT
THE CARER
ME

Turns out, more than one person planned to rob the bank today. You can steal more from a bank than just money.

Who is stealing what? Are they willing to kill for it? And can I solve the crime before the police kick down the door and rescue us?

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

WELCOME TO THE GILDED AGE. WHERE NOT EVERYTHING GLITTERS.

1890: the Gilded Age, a period of financial success and political corruption. The United States is growing at a breathless rate, with six new states recently added to the Union.

With expansion comes an influx of crime. Outlaw gangs hold sway on the frontier and heists and robberies are commonplace. A lot of businesses shrug off these depredations as the cost of success. Those who don't hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to get their money back.

The Pinkertons' newest operative is twenty-two-year-old Clare Wright. Highly educated, skilled with disguises, and handy enough in a fight, Clare's future in the agency seems bright. But when she's introduced to Fred Harvey, she finds herself thrown right into the heady mix of frontier life.

Harvey's Arizona hotel has been robbed and Clare is the perfect recruit to solve this mystery. Clare must infiltrate high society and win the confidence of killers like Butch Cassidy as she seeks the truth.

    HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

 

This was so much fun! It has that sort of early 00s Cartoon Network feel to it. The story was easy to follow along, the mystery quite easy to solve, and it was filled with so many lovable characters! Adorable!

What I liked about this is that there was no reinventing the wheel. It's the story of Frankenstein, only with a little bit of a twist. This time we get add point of view, the son of the dead that was dug up. It was a sad, but beautiful addition to the story that I know and love. The artwork itself paid such a tribute to the story. I might need to buy this for my permanent collection! 

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

     

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes, the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

No town is perfect, but East Cobb comes close. It’s a wealthy all-Black Free Town—untouched by white oppression—where ambitious Thea Elliot and her husband plan to make good on their big dreams. Little do they know that the idyllic town teems with ghoulish, walking nightmares . . . that only the women can see.


Marah knows the groanings well. She is one of the carriers—women with the ability to pull traumatic memories from men. Populated by men entirely freed of their pain, East Cobb has flourished, even as the remnants of their memories haunt the town’s women. When an unexpected death drives Marah to discover more about her own power, Thea’s and Marah’s worlds collide. The sisters must confront the rotten core at the heart of East Cobb’s prosperity and choose what—and who—will survive the reckoning.

HAPPY READING!!

William - Review

Author: Mason Collie

Genre: Horror / Science Fiction

Format: Hardback

Pages: 224

This was one of those books that you think you have all figured out really quickly. A couple of chapters in, you have it all worked out. You know all their dirty little secrets, and then you realize the twist, and I was sold. Demon inside the AI, yes, take my money. 

For the entire book, this was a solid three-star read. It was creepy, and I kept yelling at the book like the characters could hear me. Because why were we in fact going back into that house? On three separate occasions, we had gotten out. Once with all of you together.

Why go back in?

Of course, there was a reason. No, I'm not going to tell because the reason blew my socks off. This book has a solid twist right smack in the last few chapters. Then it hits you with that ending, which was so good. I loved it so much. It was terrible and perfect.

Honestly, the last maybe thirty, or forty, pages are what pushed it over into four star terrority for me. It's a book that I have told all my friends who read horror that it's worth picking up. Honestly, it's good for people who casually read horror as well. It's more of a "jump scare" book, and it has a few gory moments. Nothing I would call intense, though.

I really ended up liking this book far more than I thought I would. It's so much more than a creepy AI book, and I like that you realize too late that the book cover gives so much away. There's your cute little spoiler!

HAPPY READING!!

Night Worms Unboxing

 

March Theme: Dangerous Blooms

BOOK MAIL! BOOK MAIL! BOOK MAIL! It's my favorite thing to find in my mailbox, but it's even better when it's for Night Worms. Bonus points when you've been too busy to remember that it was waiting for you when you go get that mail. Which is exactly what I forgot when I got the mail after being gone for the weekend. 

I love how, nearly every month, there is always one book my roommate is excited for and one I've been excited for. March was no different. V. Castro has made it to her TBR, and Yah Yah's books are on mine. I love that for us. Both of us are interested into to see how the blooming tea is going to go. Definitely have to give that a go this weekend. I plan on reading all Sunday; it'll be perfect for a cuppa!

Thanks so much to both ladies who put these packages together every month. They are always great, and I'm always excited to see what they're going to put together! I've been introduced to so many great authors thanks to them!

HAPPY READING!!

March Edmonds SBC

 

A huge thank you to everyone who had to come out and read with us last night! It's always exciting to see what everyone is reading right now, and catch up with people and talk all sorts of bookish things! If you couldn't make it to this month's meet-up, don't worry. You can go read with Michelle tonight at Trailbend at 7pm, where she'll be the host for the Ballard SBC. Or, you can come read with us next month, March 18th at 7pm, back at Leftcraft! 

Our March meet-up will be a special one because it'll be our Second Anniversary! We'll have a special giveaway to celebrate!

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released, but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous folks at Breaking the Spine.

When Papi Ramon, the patriarch of the wealthy Abreu family dies, he gives the family one last message in the will: “One of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned.” Xiomara, the uncontested favorite of Papi Ramon (and therefore the least liked in the family), watches as everyone dismisses this as the joke of a senile old man and demands the lawyer obtain the previous will Papi wrote.

While the lawyer drives back to his office, a storm breaks out, forcing the entire family—Xiomara’s aunts and uncles and cousins—to remain in the house. And the words of Papi’s will hangs over their heads even heavier than the rain clouds. Over the course of the night, scandal after scandal is revealed to the public about the family. Suddenly a tense few hours of surviving her family turns into a vicious night of recrimination, violence, accusations…and murder.

Xiomara is faced with an impossible task: uproot a demon and somehow kill it or excise the ghosts that linger within her own family.

And the clock is ticking...

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

Carol is delighted to be leaving her tiny prison cell behind to take her place in a luxury retirement home. She's hoping her past as a serial killer won't come to light so she can make a few friends and find some murder-free hobbies. But it's not long before a fellow resident—who happens to be a former police commissioner—drops dead, and Carol's true identity is leaked—making catching up over daily activities of bingo and baking rather awkward.

Just her luck, Carol soon realizes that the victim wasn't the only former law enforcement officer at Sheldon Oaks—it's filled to the brim with former cops, barristers, and government representatives, her newfound friends included. And everyone thinks Carol's guilt is a no-brainer, but she is ready to prove them dead wrong...without killing anyone, for once.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

     

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes, the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget.

When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy believes that Peter Pan, the entity that she believed killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games.

When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

HAPPY READING!!