Rapid fire book reviews #4

Silent Sister - This book wasn't bad, I think it just wasn't really my taste. Sometimes these types of mysteries are just hohum for me. Having said that, I thought the main character and all of the feelings that she expressed were totally authentic feeling and relatable. This book just appeared in my mail and I don't know where it came from so if I promised someone somewhere a whole review somewhere I'm sorry.

Neighbors - I like WWII books that have a really tight focus, like that highlight one particular group or area or what have you. So this book is all about one tiny village in Poland where "one half of the killed the other (Jewish) half". It wasn't Nazis who did the killing. It was people they'd known for their whole lives. It was incredibly well researched, short in length and heartbreaking. Humans are capable of terrifying things. Also, poor Poland. They've had a lot of crappy stuff happen.

Unruly places, lost spaces, secret cities, and other inscrutable varieties - This book is all really short little essays about a variety of "non places". This includes cities that aren't inhabited anymore due to catastrophe (Chernobyl, land poisoned by environmental problems), islands that aren't on any maps, and all kinds of things. The short stories are nice for little bites of reading!

Yes, Please - Amy Poehler's memoir. I liked that she is really honest about her past and what she feels like her failings are. I love that her and Seth Meyers are BFFs. I didn't enjoy it as much as Mindy Kailing's or Tina Fey's books but I still enjoyed it.

Silver Screen Fiend - Patton Oswalt's film addiction memoir.He isn't joking about being addicted, like this consumed his whole life. I wanted to just adore this book, but I ended up just liking it. Got some good film recommendations though!