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On My Bookshelf for September:
(disclaimer: I don’t know how I have ended up reading so many disturbing books lately! These are not for the faint of heart.)
Dark Places | A 7 year old girl loses her mom and 2 older sisters in a brutal murder in her home, and her older brother is arrested for the crime. 25 years later, she meets a group obsessed with her story and forces her to revisit the events of that night so long ago. By the same author as Gone Girl, I knew this book would be both twisted and gripping. Which is exactly the kind of story I like for when I run long distances, so I listened to it while I ran the Wachau Half Marathon earlier this month. It did the trick, kept me enthralled in the story so I didn’t think about running! | “The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty – we all have it.”
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town | An in-depth (and very frightening) look at the rape crisis on college campuses by an incredible author. Although Krakauer focuses on the University of Montana, this is not a problem unique to Missoula. As he points out “rather than being the nation’s rape capital, Missoula had an incidence of sexual assault [in 2010] that was in fact slightly less than the national average. That’s the real scandal.” This should be required reading before graduating high school, for both boys and girls.
The Light Between Oceans | In the 1920’s, a young couple lives on a small secluded island off the coast of Australia. After suffering multiple miscarriages, they find a boat that has washed up on shore and inside is a tiny, healthy baby and a dead man. The following events show what happens when good people make bad decisions. A beautifully heartbreaking book. | “We live with the decisions we make. That’s what bravery is. Standing by the consequences of your mistakes.”
The Lost Girls | The True Story of the Cleveland Abductions and the Incredible Rescue of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus. I enjoy true crime books, and although this was extremely well organized and written, I hated it. Not the writing, but the subject. The torture that these 3 girls endured is just unimaginable. Hands down, the most disturbing thing I have ever read.
