The Long Walk- The true story of a trek to freedom

I loved this book.  Like any adventure novel the feats of stamina and endurance are amazing.  We start with the man's stint in a russian jail being tortured and follow his through his 2 year journey walking across Siberia to a work camp, breaking out of camp and walking south to India through the frozen Siberian forests and Tiaga to the Gobi desert and over the Himalayas.  Amazing story.

5 Stars
Recommendation: If you like adventure novels this is a must read

Galileo's Daughter (Audiobook)

I meant to read this first but accidentally read "Rasputin's Daughter" instead.  This book paled in comparison.  I found it pretty boring.  There were some interesting parts.   Particularly how little we knew about the universe at that time and how, in order to publish a scientific paper, you had to clear it with the vatican first.  Times have changed.

2 Stars
Recommendation: no

Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale disturbed me the same way Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 disturbed me.  It was a great book, engaging and well written.  I'm not giving it 5 stars simply because it didn't make me feel good.

4 Stars
I do recommend this book if you enjoy the futuristic dystopia.  It's always interesting to imagine what would happen if freedom were ripped from us.  The author stated that every part of this book has it's roots in a real event over history.  It's a good reminder of how well we have it and just how close our dark history is.

Rasputin's Daughter (Audiobook)

An account of the days leading up to, and the day of Rasputin's famous death.  I had no idea he was so current.  I'd just never thought about it.  His daughter, who's memoirs were used for the book died in 1977.  There was a very interesting twist at the end where his daughter claims he did not die quite the way the public was lead to believe.  This fact and the reason's surrounding it are reason enough to read this book.  I enjoyed it all.  I made me admire and despise Old Rasputin.  Mostly despise.

4.5 Stars

John Adams (Audiobook)

Encompasses the life of John and Abigail Adams from the beginning of his political career to the end of his life.  Great book.  I had no idea how much time he spent overseas in France and Amsterdam.  He was truly a misunderstood figure.  This book is one of many Presidential History books I intend to read.
The TV series of the same name was based on the book and is incredible too.

5 Stars

No one belongs here more than you

This book was recommended to me.  I'm not sure what to say about it.  It was interesting and weird at the same time.  The stories were intriguing.  Most had some kind of weird twist that had some kind of disturbing sexual deviancy like incest or disturbing kinks.  Not that I'm a sex negative person but this pushed the boundaries of comfort.  Overall the stories kept my interest and were thought provoking.

2.5 Stars
Recommendation:  Not sure I can recommend this book.  I enjoyed the stories for the most part however I hesitate to recommend it based on the peculiar slant.

Napoleon's Buttons

This is a fun book of short stories on how chemistry has changed the world, from the disintegrating tin buttons on Napoleon's army to salt to silk.  Most of the stories were pretty good.  I got bored with all the molecule descriptions and skimmed a lot of those parts.  The book was teeming with fun facts.

4 Stars
Recommendation: Yes, especially if you are interested in how things like "how nutmeg gave America Manhattan".  This and more in this fun book.