2016 Books

I read only 74 books in 2016, down year-to-year. Split 27% non-fiction, 73% fiction.  I either need to focus more on my reading or re-set my annual objectives as I'm clearly under the multi-year moving average.

They Call Me Supermensch, by Shep Gordon

Mr. Gordon is an entertainment manager who got his start handling Alice Cooper, and is also known for representing famous chefs. In this auto-biography, he emphasizes his notion of treating people well, striving for win-win deals, and paying back kindness.

The book is very engaging and it was great fun to read. But I have one complaint, something that nagged at me about this book until I finally figured out exactly what it is.

Mr. Gordon, a lifelong cannabis user, talks quite nonchalantly about his pot (and other drug) use in his book. The thing is, in many parts of the US, including Hawaii where Mr. Gordon lives, its (non-medical) use is illegal.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not opposed to cannabis. I just find it very upsetting that wealthy or famous folks like Mr. Gordon can flaunt their use of cannabis when literally millions of Americans are arrested for the same thing. For example, according to the ACLU, "Despite roughly equal usage rates, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana." [www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers]

It seems as though a privileged class of elites, like Mr. Gordon, Snoop Dogg, Willy Nelson, and the like, can be quite public about their use of cannabis and flat out ignore the laws, but millions of normal folks who use cannabis risk incarceration and even felony prosecution.

This imbalance seems unfair. Whichever way the public pushes on legislation, I'd just like to see fairness and equity in the enforcement of the law. So, if you're anti -cannabis, then insist on equal prosecution of Hollywood types. And if you're pro -cannabis, then fight against the current laws that lead to so many arrests: 8.2 million according to the ACLU, between 2000 and 2010, which were 52% of all drug arrests, and of which 88% were for simple possession. [www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers]

If Mr. Gordon wrote about all the sit ins or protests or lobbying efforts he'd organized to correct this imbalance, I'd feel a whole lot more impressed by him. Reading about him smoking a joint in his hot tub to help him come to inventive new ideas wasn't all that sympathetic.

Is this a big deal? According to 2013 FBI data; in Texas alone, 70,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession. As Texas State Representative Joe Moody says [http://krwg.org/post/97-texas-marijuana-convictions-are-possession], these arrests can destroy young people's' futures. "... if you had a financial aid grants those could be off the table for you, federal student aid is definitely off the table, getting a job is going to be extremely difficult because those criminal background checks are going to show up... Renting an apartment. Anything a young person is needing to be doing to kind of get on their feet to get their life going, all those things can be derailed by a minor conviction.”

My over-reaction to this political topic affected my view of what was otherwise a very good book, which I still recommend.

Beautiful Demons Box Set, by Sarra Cannon

Let's say you find a set of three books on Kindle on sale for -- free!  You have to go for it, right? Well, this deal just wasn't worth the price. My bigger mistake was to read through them all. Just don't do it.

If you must know, the hero is Harper, a high school girl with of course uncontrollable yet extraordinary powers. She ends up at a home for girls who keep getting kicked out of foster homes, and attends a new school. Where the team name is the Demons, and she joins the cheerleading squad which comprises a number of extraordinarily powered girls. Oy vey.

Gone Bad, by JB Turner

You'll love this novel if you prefer cardboard cutout characters in trite situations and both heroes and villains doing silly and/or improbable things.

The hero is Joe, a former special forces operator who is recruited to contract to the US government to capture bad guy Hunter who just escaped from Leavenworth.

If you find yourself with an injury and must rest on a sofa either medicated or drinking heavily or both, and you can find this book for free on Kindle, and you don't have the energy to find any other book to read, then it is okay.

Deceptive Cadence, by Kathryn Guare

Let's cut to the chase: I'm not recommending this novel.

Our hero Conor is a musician, recruited by MI6 to travel to India to find his brother and bring him back to London. Backstory: the brother destroyed Conor's career by letting him take the blame for criminal activities. The writing was not clear enough that I understood what was going on very well. Or perhaps it was just disbelief. And Conor is a bit of an oaf as spies go, but Ms. Guare didn't seem to intend that as an amusing touch to the story.

A Hidden Fire, by Elizabeth Hunter

You might think a novel that involves an old vampire and a young librarian would be hokey or overly romantic, or just plan horrible. But in this case you'd be quite wrong. A well written, interesting book that could cross genres out of the supernatural and be just as good.

Fear University, by Meg Collett

Our hero Ollie has a congenital affliction that leads her to not feel pain. This benefits her as she had a troubled, abusive childhood. When we catch up to her, she's in Alaska, training to fight a para-normal creature called an aswang.

If you can get past all baggage of the genre, this is a pretty good novel.

Illicit Magic, by Camilla Chafer

Our hero Stella has a so-so career as a professional temp worker in London, from which she's abruptly taken for her own safety as it comes out that she's a witch and a group of, you guessed it, witch hunters, have identified her as such and targeted her. All of which is a surprise to Stella. She's placed in a safe house in the US with other 20-something witch -like folks, and educated. Stuff then happens. To be continued.  Meh.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge, by Larry Correia

This is a weird genre, and the title is off-putting -- at least to someone like me for whom this is far from a go-to class of novels. But wow, what fun. Imagine a well written suspense, say the stereotypical special ops thriller, and tilt the story line towards the supernatural. Well worth reading.

Justice Calling, by Annie Bellet

Our hero is Jade, who runs a video gaming / dungeons & dragons shop in a small town. It turns out that this place is home to a huge number of shape shifters. Which doesn't bother Jade, as she's a sorceress in hiding; she pretends to be a relatively normal human to avoid being found by her former lover who is quite powerful because once he finds a strong sorcerer, he eats her heart to get stronger himself. Still with me? There's more.

Bad things start happening to Jade's shape shifter friends. To save them, she exposes herself. A dangerous, heroic stranger shows up (although Ms. Bellet really short changed him in the character development department).

Find out more in volume two. Or, follow my lead, and don't.