Political Satire and Cats

How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety is a clumsy satire of the ultra-conservative point  of view. Basically, take any fervor-producing pamphlet about guns, abortion, porn, the dangers of the internet...and replace the word 'kid' with 'cat'. Basically, this book suffers from being too much of a good thing. At first, it's very funny, bringing light to a kind of extremism that exists in our world. But it gets repetitive and ridiculous , causing me to lose interest. 

Rad Women Worldwide

This is precisely the kind of book I want to read to my future children - boys or girls. Forty succinct bios  of women who fought for a cause. I actually didn't know very many of the women featured, but I'm glad I do now. The illustrations in this book are wonderful, and the writing is accessible  to most age groups. Overall, a very inspiring book!

Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for a review via Bloggingforbooks.com.

In a Different Key by John Donovan

A Rational and Unbiased History  of Autism

This book is huge, both in breadth and depth...a textbook for Autism History 101.  This doorstop of a book is worth the time investment if you have any interest in or connection to Autism. Everything, from the controversial to the cutting edge, is reviewed from a very rational, stepped back viewpoint. 


**More to come on this review after I process a bit :)

The Tsar of Love and Techno, By Anthony Marra

This novel took me a while to read. It’s a little too heavy (subject-wise) for one sitting. Marra’s novel The Tsar of Love and Techno takes place in Russia from 1935 to present day.  The setting is described perfectly -  in a way that makes you even more depressed to be there with these characters.  

And boy are there a lot of characters. Marra weaves a tangled web of a time-jumping story. I actually had to stop about halfway through the book, get a piece of paper, and draw myself a timeline/web of the characters.  Brothers, fathers, uncles, and grandmothers come in and out of the story line, and rarely do they make it easy and reveal their connections. This is what makes this book so very readable – the subject matter is grim, but the novel reads like a mystery, and you’re just waiting for the author to lead you to the conclusion.

Unfortunately, there is very little conclusion. The portion of the story that takes place in present day serves to connect some people and solve some small mysteries, but for all the time-hopping this books does, there is not a satisfying end at all. Many storylines and characters are left hanging – which is not inconsistent with the general feel of the book.  The penultimate chapter would have been a good way to end the book, with one family getting some closure and hope. But then the space-themed hallucination/dream of a dead man comes and I’m left wondering why that chapter even exists.

Overall, this was a good read. Depressing, but if we only read happy books we would be deluding ourselves.  Give yourself some time to work through this one. And feel free to skip the last chapter.

**I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for this review.**