Killing Pablo & The Grand Complication

I recently finished Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden. It was lent to me by a friend and was a really good book. I didn't know a thing about Pablo Escobar before reading this book so everything was new to me. It really is a different world in Columbia and it's hard to even imagine how common kidnappings and murders must have been at that time. It doesn't seem like it's that bad now, but maybe we just don't hear about it. I was interested to read how much control Pablo had over everything, including the jail he had built for himself and his friends! The leve of corruption was horrible. It was also amazing to read about the resources that went into the manhunt. All of the different police and military acronyms got a little confusing, but that shows the extent of the manhunt. Mark Bowden also wrote Black Hawk Down which was made into a movie of the same name. The incident in Black Hawk Down actually took place at a similar time and is mentioned in Killing Pablo.

I also read The Grand Complication by Alan Kurzweil recently. Several people in the Librarians who LibraryThing group posted that this was their favorite Library/Librarian book. I can't think of what mine would be, but it probably won't be this one. I thought it was okay. Maybe I had high expectations because of what other people had written about it.

I also have checked out:

Room for Improvement, Stacey Ballis - This is just sitting on my shelf. I probably won't read it.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah - This is our next book club book. It looks really good. It's the memoir of a boy soldier (ha!) from Africa. He now lives in the US and is attending school.

Secret Society Girl: an Ivy League Novel, Diana Peterfreund - I just checked this out. I think it's about a woman who is invited to join a secret society at Yale, or maybe another Ivy League school.

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky - I've heard really good things about this book. It's about a Jewish woman in Paris in the 1940s. While not autobiographical, there are many similarities between the author and her character's lives. The author was sent to Auschwitz where she died a month later. Her daughters took her incomplete novel with her and it was published 60+ years later.

The True & Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters

I just finished The True & Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters for book club which meets tonight. Since I chose it, I'll lead the discussion. While I was at my parents house I read Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy. I always enjoy her descriptions of life in small town Ireland and her characters. They're real people with real problems.

Other books that I have checked out:

The Third Victim & The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner - my Mother in Law is reading them on vacation. I'm not sure I've read anything by Lisa Gardner.

I Stink! by Kate McMullan, The Big Book of Things that Go, A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman and Road Construction Ahead (video) - These are all for Ryan (shocker!) I should probably get him his own card. His favorite, by far, is Road Construction Ahead. We'll watch it and he'll ask to watch it again, which has never happened. He can always hope.

The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil - Several people in the Librarians who LibraryThing Group posted that this was their favorite Library/Librarian book so I had to read it. I'm not sure if it's my favorite, but it's interesting and different so I'll probably finish it.

The Midnight Choir, Gene Kerrigan - I don't even recognize this title.
Room for Improvement, Stacey Ballis - Haven't started it.
The Man of My Dreams, Curtis Sittenfeld - I picked this out as a book club suggestion and didn't suggest it. I started reading Prep by the same author and never finished it. I'm not sure if I'll read this.
The Quality of Life Report, Meghan Daum - A book club suggestion that wasn't chosen. Not sure if I'll read it.
A Hole in the Universe, Mary McGarry Morris - Another book club suggestion that wasn't chosen. Not sure if I'll read it.
Lion Eyes, Claire Berlinski - Another possible book club suggestion that I didn't suggest. Not sure if I'll read it.
Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Patterson - There is a book discussion group at the Library that is reading this. I checked out the Library copy to myself in case we needed an additional copy for the group. I think I read it years ago.