Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

This has been on my TBR list for a bit and I was a little surprised that it felt difficult to get through. I wasn't sure why, I just knew I wasn't picking it up as often to get it finished.

The writing is great, I had no issues with that. I felt every piece of Africa with the author through her words. There were really no slow parts, no bad characters, or whatnot. I think my main problem was....this felt like a rough life and a rough childhood and THAT made it hard to read.

Alexandra Fuller's family moved to Africa when she was just a wee baby. She had an older sister, Vanessa, a mom and a dad. They went on a work permit and were tending farms for a living. Often poor, often hungry, they seemed to always have the bad luck to land in the middle of war-torn, landmine-encrusted areas. Nicola, the mom, gave birth to 5 children but only 2 lived. The life they chose was a harsh one.

Fuller doesn't shy away from the brutalities, the day to day normalcy to them (carrying an Uzi wherever you go) seem horrible to others. The racial bias and descriptions on how whites (like the Fullers) are treated vs their black neighbors is pretty terrible as well. And Fuller recognizes that.

All in all, a very good book that is worth the read. I realize that I really don't know much about Africa, it's history or it's culture. Thankfully, Fuller recommends books at the end to help bridge that gap of knowledge.

And honestly, this has to be my favorite cover of all time

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

I grabbed this off of Audible, hoping for something to make me laugh. It did, some, but not what I was hoping for. On the flip side, it was still a good memoir about Lancaster's quest to not lose her feet to diabetes.

Lancaster is a narcissist. It's right there in the subtitle, so don't take that the wrong way. I think every woman SHOULD look into the mirror and think "Damn gurl! You fine!" regardless of their size. And that's exactly how Lancaster viewed herself up until her doctor gave her the death speech. Lancaster was about to turn 40 and was more overweight than even she thought.

As a pitch for a new book, Lancaster decides to lose 50 lbs and write about it. The book is picked up, therefore she must lose the weight. For as narcissistic as she makes herself out to be,  I have to admire what she did to lose the weight safely. Extra time at the gym with a trainer, weight watchers and lap swimming at the local pool. Although, I rolled my eyes a bit because she is a writer. That's her job. So taking the time to lose weight in that fashion, well, it was probably a bit easier than for folks who work outside the home.

Not a bad book. I will probably pick up some of her others to read because I enjoyed the writing.

Murder on the Mind by L.L. Bartlett

I forget who recommended Bookbub to me but I ended up signing up and grabbing free Kindle books if they sounded remotely interesting. I snagged this copy based on the premise and didn't really delve much deeper. Now, I see that it's part of a series and was originally published in 2008 (despite my regular reading-series-out-of-order luck, this happened to be the first book!).

Goodreads tells me there are 10 books in the Jeff Resnick series and, based on this book, I think this will be a series I enjoy.

Resnick is a former insurance investigator who has been unemployed for a good long while. When we meet him, he's about to start a new job and get his life back. Unfortunately, a couple of crackhead kids changes his plans. He's mugged and beaten over the head with a baseball bat. While in a coma as a John Doe, the kids ransack his apartment and steal everything of value and deface the rest. Assholes. Resnick's half brother, Richard, comes to the rescue to take Jeff back to Buffalo to recover. Their relationship is tumultuous at best. Richard was left millions in inheritance while Jeff has nothing. Richard is a doctor while Jeff struggled to stay employed as an investigator. Yin Meet Yang.

Richard's girlfriend, Brenda, is a nurse and welcomes Jeff with open arms. Jeff starts having visions, where he sees a murder happen and feels the horror and emotion of the crime. Could this be a symptom of the brain injury? Maybe, but it turns out, the visions are real. A prominent banker in town is found gutted like a deer, strung up in his garage, exactly like Jeff's vision.

Compelled to investigate, we pretty much dive in to a crime of passion and greed that would have gone unsolved if not for Resnick. Since this is the first book, we learn what he is learning about his new gift at the same time. I'm pretty curious to see where he goes from here and what he can do without a broken arm and brain injury.

Good murder mystery. Definitely drew me in to read the series. And .... yay free books!