By Candice Millard
4.5 Stars
Most know Winston Churchill as the powerful British Prime Minister who made wartime decisions that reverberated through the decades. This book tells the unique story of his participation in the South African Boer War, his capture and his daring escape. Like many who grow up to be extremely successful, Winston Churchill is not a particularly likable young man. Yet, I found myself still rooting for him and his outrageous attempts at heroics even while cringing at the repugnance of colonialism. I have read all of Candice Millard's books and while not my favorite (Destiny of the Republic is by far the more fascinating historical exploration), this is a well-paced and readable narrative. I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Mexico: Stories by Josh Barkan
Publication Date: January 24, 2016
3.5 stars
This collection of short stories describes life for people living in Mexico City and their interactions with the fear and violence of drug cartels. Many times these are Americans living in one of the more upscale neighborhoods who naïvely stumble upon danger. I thought it interesting that most of these were written in the first person, which meant that the reader is placed inside the head of each of the narrators. I'm don't read many story collections but this seemed a different approach and made them very approachable and easy to speed through. As with all collections, not all of these were great and I think the first in the collection is my least favorite. I'm also not sure how realistic these situation are but they were definitely interesting to read. I received this book from a LibraryThing giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
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