You Know When the Men Are Gone

Title: You Know When the Men Are Gone

Author: Siobhan Fallon

Pages: 5 discs

Genre: Short Stories

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book is a collection of short stories about the lives of the wives and children left home at Fort Hood in Texas while their husbands are deployed (presumably to Afghanistan or Iraq).  Each of the women deal with their husband's deployment in different ways, or more accurately, struggles with their husband's absence differently.  One finds herself obsessing about her neighbor and how she is parenting or spending her time.  Another struggles to visit the PX without having a breakdown when she gets there.

My Review: I enjoyed this collection of short stories, that all had the common thread of deployment running from one to the next.  There were a number of stories that I would have enjoyed reading for another few chapters.

Left to Tell

Title: Left to Tell

Author: Immaculee Ilibagiza

Pages: 214

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B+

Synopsis: 1994 Rwanda was overtaken by a Hutu majority and in the course of about 3 months over 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in a bloody genocide.  Neighbors were pitted against neighbors and anybody caught hiding Tutsis were killed.  Immaculee Ilibigiza had found hiding in a small private bathroom in a pastor's house with 8 other women while the rest of her family in Rwanda were slaughtered.  During the 91 days that she remained hidden in the cramped bathroom she learned to rely on prayer to help pull her through.

My Review:  It is absolutely shocking that this type of tragedy can still happen in the modern world.  Once the fighting commenced, the UN and Belgium sent peacekeeping troops, but it was too dangerous for them to stay and the world was not willing to send troops in a number that could have stopped the genocide much sooner.  I started reading this book shortly after returning from Uganda (which borders Rwanda to the north).  I loved being able to better understand the types of places that were described in the book.  It helped the book come to life, all the while feeling nauseous that humans can still be so utterly brutish and murderous one to another.

Jamestown

Title: Jamestown

Author: Matthew Sharpe

Pages: 416

Genre: Historical Fiction?

Grade: D

Synopsis: This story is a retelling of the Jamestown story (i.e. the first English settlement in the New World), but it is set in a post-apocalyptic world.  Jamestown seems to be in the same location as it currently is (in Eastern Virginia), and the story spans from the Jamestown area up the coast to New York City, which has mostly been destroyed from how we know the city today.  A group of settlers set out from Manhattan, looking for a place to settle and create a trading post for oil when they come to the Jamestown area.  The groups communications officer starts a strange romance with Pocahontas in an effort to become trading partners with the Indians in the area.

My Review: I didn't really get this book.  It was a bizarre mixture of just about everything including rap and Ebonics and history and politics.  Too much of the humor felt forced and it took me far too long to get into the story.

Shadow Divers

Title: Shadow Divers

Author: Robert Kurson

Pages: 335

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Deep-sea divers are an elite group of experts and hobbyists who risk their lives any time they enter the water.  In the fall of 1991 a small group of divers find a shipwreck off the coast of New Jersey that they're determined to find out more about.  They determine that the wreckage is from a German WWII U-boat, but neither government knows of any U-boat missing in the area nor any reports of a submarine having been sunk in the area.

My Review:  I really enjoyed this book and learning a bit about the culture and danger of deep sea diving.  The dedication that John Chatterton and Richie Kohler showed in trying to bring closure to the families of the U-boat crew in figuring out exactly which U-boat they had found was impressive.  It felt like this was far more than a hobby to these two men.

Don't Know Much About Anything

Title: Don't Know Much About Anything

Author: Kenneth C. Davis

Pages: 320

Genre: Non-Fiction

Grade: B-

Synopsis:  This book has little snippets about just about anything, although the majority of the topics covered seemed like they would only be of interest to Americans. Various people, places and things are all covered and described in bursts throughout the book.

My Review:  Honestly, I was quite disappointed with this book.  I'm not sure what I expected, but this one didn't cut the mustard.  Things in the book felt a little superficial and while reading it I felt a bit like I was wasting my time.  My suggestion would be to pick up a book by Bill Bryson before one from the Don't Know Much series.

Hot Lights, Cold Steel

Title: Hot Lights, Cold Steel: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years

Author: Michael J. Collins, M.D.

Pages: 320

Genre: Memoir

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The book chronicles the four years of Collins' surgical residency at the Mayo Clinic during his training to become an orthopedic surgeon. Collins' honest style details their struggles with money, car troubles, time together as a couple, long hours at the hospital, moonlighting in a rural emergency room and having to make life-or-death decisions.

My Review:  Well, this was my second time reading Hot Lights Cold Steel, however, this is only my first time reading the correct book with the title from my list of books to read. I really enjoyed this memoir.  It was a great look into the life of resident at the Mayo Clinic.  Life as a resident can be pretty rough, but at the same time, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.