Beyond the Body Farm

Beyond the Body Farm by Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
HarperCollins, 2007
Hardcover, 304 pages
ISBN-13: 9780060875299
nonfiction
very highly recommended

Synopsis

The Dead Do Tell Tales...
A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition. Bill Bass's research at "the Body Farm" has revolutionized forensic science, helping police crack cold cases and pinpoint time since death. In this riveting book, the bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science, using cases from his career to take readers into the real world of "CSI."
Some of Bill Bass's cases rely on the simplest of tools and techniques, while other cases hinge on sophisticated techniques Dr. Bass could not have imagined when he began his career: using computer data and video image processing to help identify murder victims; harnessing scanning electron microscopy to detect trace elements in knife wounds; and extracting DNA from a long-buried corpse, only to find that the female murder victim may have been mistakenly identified a quarter-century before...

My thoughts:

I previously read Dr. Bass memoir, Death's Acre, after it was published in 2003. Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science is another collection of specific cases that complement his memoir.

This is not CSI (see the last quote). This is an account of how real forensic anthropologists work when trying to solve a case or answer a question. It's a fascinating insight into the science involved and how science has advanced over the years.

While I don't think this book is for everyone, if you are interested in how forensic anthropologists work and don't mind a few grisly details, you will find this book well worth your time. Although I would recommend Death's Acre first, this is a stand alone nonfiction book on forensic anthropology.

Very highly recommended

Quotes:

One of the most important lessons I've learned during my career is that justice is a team effort. In the course of any given murder case, that team may include uniformed police officers, plainclothes detectives, crime scene and lab technicians, fingerprint experts, medical examiners ("forensic physicians," you might say), firearms and ballistics examiners, toxicologists, forensic dentists, and DNA specialists.

From a broader perspective, though, forensic teamwork extends not just across scientific specialties but across decades of research and innovation. pg. xiii

Not surprisingly, when we began our research program back in the early 1980s, our experiments were designed to answer some very basic questions: How long does it take the arms to fall off? When does the skull start showing through? At what point is a body reduced to bare bone?.... Fairly quickly, though, our research projects became more sophisticated, and we developed timelines and mathematical formulas that could help us estimate, with surprising accuracy, how long someone had been dead once we obtained temperature records for the days or weeks prior to the body's discovery. pg. xvii

[W]hen people fill out the forms to donate their body to the Body Farm.... what they are actually agreeing to donate is their skeleton... pg. xix

In the chapters that follow, you'll see how things we've learned at the Body Farm have helped us identify the dead, figure out what happened to them, and in many cases (though, sadly not all) bring killers to justice. pg. xxii

One of the most revolutionary changes in forensic science in recent decades has been the advent of DNA testing; the ability to chart any person's genetic makeup - to take a genetic "fingerprint," essentially - and compare that with all sorts of forensic evidence, ranging from body fluids (including blood, saliva, and semen), to hair, to skeletal elements such as soft tissue, teeth, and bones. pg. 29

There's such a gap between how forensic science is portrayed on TV and how it is practiced in real life, and in real murder trials, that beleaguered police officers and prosecutors have given the gap a name - "the CSI effect" - and almost anytime one of them utters the phrase among colleagues, head-shaking and eye-rolling and muttering are sure to follow. pg. 163

Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
St. Martin's Press, 2008
Trade Paperback, 528 pages
ISBN-13: 9780312537074

Recommended

From the Publisher

In the summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn; Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.
Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the mainstay of their lives.
For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship - jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart...and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

My Thoughts:

Firefly Lane can be described as a re-adaptation of Beaches with an over abundance of period-appropriate product placement.

Publishers Weekly wrote: "Hannah goes a little too far into Lifetime movie territory in her latest, an epic exploration of the complicated terrain between best friends-one who chooses marriage and motherhood while the other opts for career and celebrity." Exactly. There is no new territory covered here. Exploring conflicts between women friends who choose a career over motherhood and marriage has been done countless times. This takes any poignancy out of the story because you know what's going to happen. It just makes the novel overlong and formulaic.

While I applaud the fact that Hannah did research for the book and set the story in a specific time, she went W-A-Y over the top in the obsessive name dropping of a wide variety of brand names, songs, clothing, and TV shows for each decade. At first the over abundance of 70's product names brought about some nostalgia, but felt forced and odd. Then it just went over the top, became distracting, and was, ultimately, darn annoying.

I will admit that the story flows well and is an easy, compelling read. The themes of betrayal and reconciliation, while very recognizable, are also very apparent. My biggest problem is that I didn't like either woman. I didn't like them as teens (since I am just a little older than these characters are supposed to be, I can tell you that I wouldn't have liked them in the 70's either) and I didn't like them as adults. I couldn't see WHY they were friends and why they remained friends. That simple fact alone detracts from anything Hannah did right in the book.

Rating this one is a problem. I did finish it, although I considered tossing it aside several times and there may have been some eye-rolling too. But... I did finish it.

Recommended - if you like chick-lit and Lifetime movies

3/7/11 update: My mother (in her 70's) read this book and really enjoyed it and the writing of author Kristin Hannah.

Quotes:

They used to be called the Firefly Lane girls. That was a long time ago—more than three decades—but just now, as she lay in bed listening to a winter storm raging outside, it seemed like yesterday. opening

For most of the country, 1970 was a year of upheaval and change, but in the house on Magnolia Drive, everything was orderly and quiet. Inside, ten-year-old Tully Hart sat on a cold wooden floor building a Lincoln Log cabin for her Liddle Kiddles, who were sleeping on a tiny pink Kleenexes. If she were in her bedroom, she would have had a Jackson Five forty-five in her Close 'N Play, but in the living room, there wasn't even a radio. pg.5

But Tully knew better. Somehow today she'd done something wrong, been bad. Next time her mommy came back, she'd try harder. She'd promise to be the president and she'd never, ever say she was sorry again. pg. 11

But things change fast. She knew that now. A horse could get old overnight and go lame. A friend could become a stranger just as quickly. pg. 16

And her clothes: low-rise, three-button jeans with huge, tie-died wedges of fabric in the seams to make elephant bells, cork-bottomed platform shoes with four-inch heels, and an angel-sleeved pink peasant blouse that revealed at least two inches of stomach. pg. 18

Mom touched her hand gently. "It's never good to sit around and wait for someone or something to change your life. That's why women like Gloria Steinem are burning their bras and marching on Washington."
"So that I can make friends?"
"So that you know you can be whatever you want to be." pg. 22

Within a week, Kate became cool by association. Kids raved over her new look and didn't turn away from her in the halls. Being a friend of Tully Hart's meant she was okay. pg. 45

Then he left her there, standing alone, surrounded by word ghosts, things she could have said. pg. 161

Mockingjay

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Hunger Games Series #3
Scholastic, August 2010
Hardcover, 400 pages
ISBN-13: 9780439023511
Young Adult novel

highly recommended

Synopsis

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

My Thoughts:

Mockingjay is the 3rd and final book in Collins' successful YA Hunger Games series.

The Hunger Games, book 1

Catching Fire, book 2

Although I don't anticipate having any spoilers, if you are planning to read the series, feel free to skip my thoughts.

A whole lot was expected of Collins in this third book - and she does deliver in many ways, but also falls a little short in others. She does succeed in wrapping up the story line and draws it all to a conclusion that will satisfy may fans of the series. Although I found the whole "team Gale or team Peeta" mania, well, silly, I can see where it could be a burning question for YA readers. I don't have any problems with how she concluded the story.

Part of my problem with the completed series is two fold.

My first problem is the fact that Katniss doesn't seem to grow as a character at all in this third book. While this could be understandable, I was expecting a greater indication of growth and maturity after the first two books. Mockingjay is actually much more plot driven than character driven.

My second issue all stems, and perhaps unfairly, back to the fact that this is a YA book. The plot and language are simplified. It is a quick and easy read. (Don't let the number of pages throw you off. It's not a densely pack book. The type and spaces between the type are both large. This time the simplified language and large type were noticeable to me.) No matter how many adult fans are out there, this is still a YA book. And, again, Collins doesn't break any new ground with this series - the plot has been done before. All in all, I think The Hunger Games was the best book in the series.

In the end the Hunger Games is a very successful YA series, I would say for ages 14 and up due to the violence. Adults may prefer to read Battle Royale. I think I am done with YA books now.

highly recommended

Quotes:

I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. opening

The memories swirl as I try to sort out what is true and what is false. What series of events led me to be standing in the ruins of my city? pg.4

The citizens of District 12 had no organized resistance movement of their own. No say in any of this. They only had the misfortune to have me. Some survivors think it's good luck, though, to be free of District 12 at last. To have escaped the endless hunger and oppression, the perilous mines, the lash of our final Head Peacekeeper, Romulus Thread. pg. 6-7

What am I going to do?

To become the Mockingjay... could any good I do possibly outweigh the damage? Who can I trust to answer that question? Certainly not the crew in 13. I swear, now that my family and Gale's are out of harm's way, I could run away. Except for one unfinished piece of business. Peeta. pg. 13

To keep me alive? And then I understand. The Games are still on. We have left the arena, but since Peeta and I weren't killed, his last wish to preserve my life still stands. His idea is to have me lie low, remain safe and imprisoned, while the war plays out. then neither side will really have cause to kill me. pg. 30

"I'm going to be the Mockingjay." pg. 31

A Simple Plan

A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 1993
Hardcover, 335 pages
ISBN: 0679419853

very highly recommended

From the Publisher

It All Seemed So Simple...
Two brothers and their friend stumble upon the wreckage of a plane-the pilot is dead and his duffle bag contains four million dollars in cash. The men agree to hide, keep and share the fortune. But what started off as a simple plan slowly devolves into a gruesome nightmare none of them can control.

My Thoughts:

Have you ever dreamed of winning the lottery and planned what you would do with the money. What would you do if you were faced with a real temptation? Let's say you found a bag full of millions of dollars in a wrecked plane in a remote area. Would you report the accident? Turn in the money? Would you be tempted to keep the money, if there was little chance your crime would be discovered? That's the tantalizing premise of A Simple Plan... and the plan does seem simple, at first, but as with many seemingly simple plans, things can run amok quickly and any semblance of control can spiral out of control as one mishap leads to another.

I thought Smith did a good job creating tension in this novel of suspense. The plot, although seemingly simple, was full of unexpected twists and even those that were predictable were handled well. Smith delves into the ethics and morals of how an ordinary man might react when faced with an unbelievable temptation. And how this temptation might change him. Even when the actions of the characters were gruesome, they were still believable as the characters lose control. (I did have to suspend disbelief that crimes weren't discovered, when, in reality, they very likely would be.) This novel literally kept me reading all night.

very highly recommended

Quotes:

My parents died in an automobile accident the year after I was married. They tried to enter I-75 through an exit ramp one Saturday night and crashed head-on into a semi hauling cattle. opening

My brother and I had never been close, not even as children, and the gap between us only grew wider as we got older. By the time of the accident, we had very little except our parents left in common, and their sudden deaths eased whatever weight this might've normally held. pg. 4

"It's money," Lou said, smiling up at Jacob. "Look." He leaned the bag forward.
Jacob bent over and squinted at it, his mouth dropping open. I looked, too. It was full of money, packets held together with thin paper bands.
"Hundred-dollar bills," Lou said. pg. 19

And it was like magic, too, like a gift from the gods, the ease with which a solution came to me, a simple plan, a way to keep the money without fear of getting caught. I could just sit on it, hiding it away until the plane was discovered. If someone found the wreck and there was no mention of a missing three million dollars, I'd split it up with Lou and Jacob and we could go our separate ways. But if, on the other hand, it seemed like someone knew the money was missing, I'd burn it..... Up until the very instant I gave Lou and Jacob their shares, I'd be in complete control. I could erase my crime at a moment's notice. pg. 23

Looking back on it now, after all that's happened, it seems insane with what little fear I picked this path. pg. 23

We were trapped, I realized; we'd crossed a boundary, and we couldn't go back. The money, by giving us the chance to dream, had also allowed us to begin despising our present lives. pg. 105

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People
by Susan Orlean
Random House Publishing, 2002
Trade Paperback, 311 pages
ISBN-13: 9780375758638

highly recommended

From the Publisher

... Meet more than thirty-five of
Susan Orlean's favorite people from the well known (Bill Blass and Tonya Harding) to the unknown (a typical ten-year-old boy) to the formerly known (the 1960s girl group the Shaggs).

Orlean transports us into the lives of some rather eccentric individuals, like the man who has spent thirty years selling nothing but ceiling fans; or Bob Silverstein, maker of the Big Chair the creme de la creme of oversized chairs used for novelty photographs at carnivals. Others are living highly unusual lives, like Cristina Sanchez, the eponymous bullfighter, the first woman to become a matador in Spain; or the African king who drives a taxi in New York City and keeps his throne in his living room..... Orlean writes with such insight and candor that readers will feel as if they've met each and every one of these unconventional folks.

Susan Orlean brings her wry sensibility, exuberant voice, and peculiar curiosities to a fascinating range of subcultures sports and music and hairdressing and real estate, among others. The result is a joyful, luminous tour of the human condition via an eclectic array of people, as seen through the eyes of one of America's most entertaining and original literary journalists.

My Thoughts:

This is a collection of published pieces (from 1986 - 2001) written by Susan Orlean, that focus on people, character studies. As she said in the introduction: "For this book, though, I decided to gather together only pieces that center on people, to present an assembly of the various characters I've profiled so far in my career. There is nothing harder or more interesting than trying to say something eloquent about another person and no process is more challenging. (pg xv) In the back is a list of the stories included, along with the magazines and the date of the issue when the stories originally appeared.

I thought most of these profile pieces were interesting - some more than others. All in all it was a nice collection of Orlean's writing. The fact that Orlean is a very good writer elevates most of these stories above the ordinary. Highly Recommended

Quotes:

...I wanted to write about things that intrigued me, and to write about them in a way that would surprise readers who might not have expected to find these things intriguing. introduction, pg ix

Depending upon who you ask, The Shaggs were either the best band of all time or the worst. pg. 15

If I were a bitch, I'd be in love with Biff Truesdale. Biff is perfect. He's friendly, good looking, rich, famous, and in excellent physical condition. He almost never drools. He's not afraid of commitment. He wants children - actually, he already has children and wants a lot more. He works hard and is a consummate professional, but he also knows how to have fun. pg. 27

The Hana girls dominate Maui surfing these days. Theory has it that they grow up riding such mangy waves that they're ready for anything. pg. 39

Jill Meilus is a New York City real estate broker. Like Superman, she can see through walls. Walking down a Manhattan street with her is a paranormal experience. pg. 73

The gospel audience is probably the poorest of any mass audience in the country, and there are a thousand ways, like working at a Kmart or doing construction, that most gospel singers could make more money than they do by singing gospel; and most gospel singers don't make enough from their music to live on. pg. 86

Diana Epstein recently bought seventeen thousand buttons, sight unseen, from the city of Tempe, Arizona, and the other day she invited us over to watch as she opened boxes, suitcases, and an entire trunk full of buttons to find out what she now owned. pg. 134

Kwabena Oppong, who is the king and supreme ruler of the African Ashanti tribespeople living in the United States of America, has a throne in his living room. pg. 201

Phytosphere

Phytosphere by Scott Mackay
Penguin Group, 2007
Mass Market Paperback, 376 pages
ISBN-13: 9780451461582

highly recommended

Synopsis

After settlement negotiations between humanity and the alien Tarsalans go horribly wrong, the Earth is engulfed in a mysterious green sphere-blocking all sunlight from reaching the surface. Only two scientists-one isolated on the Moon's lunar colony, the other trapped on a dying Earth-possess the minds and the means to destroy the sphere before it renders the world completely barren...

My Thoughts:

Phytosphere is a tale of alien invasion and postapocalyptic survival in the distant future. And, why yes, it is a good combination.

When negotiations for immigration rights fail, the alien Tarsalans surround the Earth with a mysterious green, light-blocking shroud, dubbed the phytosphere. The Tarsalans consider the phytosphere a teaching tool, while Earth considers it a declaration of war. The action follows the Thorndike brothers, Gerry and Neil, as they try to discover a way to eliminate the phytosphere. Gerry is on the moon when the Phytosphere is put into place while Neil is on the Earth. Also stuck on the Earth is Gerry's family, wife Glenda and their two children.

The group on the moon trying to discover a way to eliminate the phytosphere follows Gerry's leadership at first, while on the Earth, Neil, Gerry's arrogant brother and scientific advisor to the president, summarily discounts any information that comes from the moon, believing he is the only one who could possibly discover a solution. The back and forth debate on how to destroy the phytosphere between the brothers could have easily become boring but Mackay keeps the story moving along by following Glenda and her children's harrowing tale of survival amidst chaos as society breaks down. Glenda's story really is the more compelling one until the end, and it creates some real tension and a sense urgency for one of the brother's to discover a solution.

Personally, I appreciated the hard science fiction elements along with the postapocalyptic tale. Mackay expertly wove the stories of the various characters together. The main characters were well developed and the suspense kept building right up to the end. (While I could get nit-picky over a few minor details, following my suggestions wouldn't have made the story any better.)
Highly Recommended

Quotes:

From his eighth-floor room in the Nectaris Buena Vista Hotel and Gambling Casino, Gerry Thorndike watched the shroud form over Earth. It moved with the slowness of a minute hand sweeping around a clock. opening

But the shroud persisted, and as he glanced toward the East Coast he saw, for the first time, an opposite edge, and understood that east would meet west, south would meet north; all the various blooms would join up, and darkness would entomb the Earth. pg. 5

"The Tarsalans unilaterally suspended immigration negotiations a couple weeks ago, and now they've gone and put this shroud around the Earth, and who knows when they're going to take it down?" pg. 10

"Wow," his voice suffused with soft and quavering reverence. "It's gotten a lot thicker overnight, hasn't it, Mom?" pg. 18-19

"But why bury food?"

"Because I don't want anybody coming into the house and stealing it."

"Why would they steal it?"

"Jake, how many times do I have to tell you? There are bad people in the world. And if bad people get desperate, they become extra bad. If this shroud lasts any length of time, everything's going to stop growing and food's going to run out. You think anything is going to grow with that thing in the sky? Plants need light to grow. Two weeks of total darkness, and that's it, there goes next year's crop." pg. 24-25

his wasn't like the regular and small disasters that befell people on a daily basis, making their lives miserable for a while, then finally drifting away like a bad dream. This was the Apocalypse. And she wanted food for when the Apocalypse finally came. pg. 25

Langstrom would have been a kindly old grandfather type if it weren't for something bitter in the eyes, and stingy about his lips. pg. 30

This particular brand of Armageddon, at least at first, was of a slow and creeping kind, but it was pernicious. pg. 85

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris

Trade Paperback, 464 pages

Berkley Books, 1996
ISBN-13: 9780425182123

biography

highly recommended

Synopsis:

She was the most beautiful film and fashion statement of her era, with or without the Givenchy designs. She was a ballet dancer, who never performed in a ballet. She was the world's highest-paid film actress, who never took an acting lesson. She was Audrey Hepburn, and she had the aura of a beloved real-life princess. With unprecedented access to family and friends, never-before-published photographs and meticulous research, biographer Barry Paris gives us a vibrant new portrait of Hepburn. Beginning with her childhood in Nazi-occupied Holland, he weaves the tale of her storybook career, its dizzying launch after the liberation, her title role on Broadway in Gigi, and her Oscar- and Tony- winning performances within the same year of her arrival in America. In the late 1950s and the 1960s, her star shone brighter with leads in Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Wait Until Dark and My Fair Lady. In 1980 she met and fell in love with Rob Wolders, the widower of Merle Oberon. With his assistance, from 1988 until the end of her life, Hepburn became special ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund. Her trips to Ethiopia and Somalia demonstrated her whole-hearted and tireless commitment. Never before had so great a star so vigorously lent herself to such a crusade.

My Thoughts:

Barry Paris does a wonderful job collecting and presenting the facts in this complete biography of Audrey Hepburn. Paris' research was quite extensive and the book includes 57 photos, a filmography, source notes, bibliography, and an index. There are no great scandals or startling information in this account of her life because there really was nothing to disclose. Obviously, this well written biography will appeal to fans of Hepburn's movies and her later work with UNICEF.

Highly recommended

Quotes:

Audrey Hepburn is the biographer's dream and nightmare simultaneously. No other film actress was so revered - inspired and inspiring - both for her on-screen appearances and for her passionate off-screen crusade. Foreword, opening

But, by and large, she did not recall her early childhood fondly. She was a puny, introverted little girl who had trouble making friends and preferred the tomboyish companionship of her much older half-brothers. She cared much less for dolls, which "never seemed real to me," she said, than for animals. pg. 7

"Don't discount anything awful you hear or read about the Nazis. It's worse than you could ever imagine." pg. 21

Far better nutritionally was the food she and thousands of others received soon after from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the forerunner of UNICEF. Her commitment to that organization began then and there. pg. 32

Something was happening on a grander scale, and "the look of that girl" was making it happen. It had to do with the changing standards of beauty and with film and fashion overall, but perhaps most with the era itself. pg. 76

Marni Nixon remembers watching Hepburn the actress at work. "listening and carefully taking all their directions and then, after they were through, doing it exactly the way she wanted. Everybody around the room said 'Oh, isn't she wonderful, she took what I said to heart.' But to me, all she did was thread it through herself. She was just placating everybody." pg. 209

"It wasn't a put-on. she genuinely loved the beauty of small things. She was connected to the simplicity of how life could work and tried not to complicate it." pg. 324

"She was very shy, and she looked very frail. She did a tremendous job of calling attention to the plight of children in ways that nobody else could." pg. 350