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Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein

() Imagine being in your mid-thirties and fairly settled in life. (Or maybe you don't have to imagine that part.) You're adopted, which is a fact you've already come to terms with.Then you receive a call informing you not only that you have a sibling you've been estranged from, but that this sibling is your identical twin. Well these authors didn't have to imagine - it really happened to them.

This is a true, nearly unbelievable account of two separated twins tracing their roots and the deep-seated unethical actions taken by a local Jewish adoption agency. It takes place in New York, though one twin had originally been dwelling in Paris.

The twins found uncanny similarities between them despite their very separate environments while growing up. For example, both have an intense interest in film and have at least some of their career invested in it.

They find severe mental illness has been diagnosed in their now deceased birth mother. They conduct detailed research into twinship and arrange meetings with many people to find out more about themselves and all previously mentioned topics, in general.

The story is a unique one, though I personally think it Is drawn out a little further than is necessary.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

() As with most series, the second is just not comparable to the first. But this is still good. Just not amazing.

Katniss is called to the games a second time due to the 75th year tribute change. All past victors are tossed into the lottery. She's the only female victor from District 12 anyway. The capitol has it in for her.

But as always, there is a twist ending. And her and Peter, among others, don't die. There is an uprising, a rebellion occurring. And the third book shall surely detail it all further.

Beauty Queen by Linda Glovach

() This is similar in style to Go Ask Alice, edited by Beatrice Sparks. A girl of 19 moves away from her alcoholic mother, gets a job as a topless dancer, and become addicted to heroin. Which she dies at the hands of, as well. There is also a story of a failed romance, which sparks the ending overdose.

The story was easy to read and was written like a journal. From the quote printed on the back cover, it sounds like the author was once a heroin addict herself. Though this was obviously not her story. I finished the whole thing within 3 hours or so.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

() It's been a long time since a book has entrapped me. But this one did just that. I couldn't escape the suspenseful, blood thirsty story if I tried. I spent a little over a day doing almost nothing but reading. Yeah, it was that good.

The plot takes place in the future, after the destruction of North America. There's 12 districts all under the Capitol's control, in a nation known as Panem. After a past rebellion, the Capitol created the Hunger Games so as to annually remind the population of their power. The Games take one boy and one girl from each district in a lottery known as 'the reaping.' All chosen must battle to the death in a televised, nature-based setting, with only one victor surviving. Katniss is the main character, and when her little sister gets called, she volunteers to take her place.

From there, the thrill of a brutal survival story ensues. And the finale is one that has never been seen by Panem. Also, gender stereotypes are shattered in dramatic ways, and the skillful character development is astounding.

Yeah, I know I'm a bit old for these young adult books. But that doesn't make the great ones any less appealing.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

() This was an educational book, and provided me with much more awareness about my food and where it comes from. However, it was long and drawn out in many unnecessary ways.

The first section of was all about corn. Corn is very central to our diets today, as it is used as feed to our livestock, and is transformed into all kinds of commonly used food additives and chemicals. But I really didn't need to read through all the various details of the author's ventures and research into corn, as with many other food avenues he explores. He really could have cut down on the uninteresting details, and gone straight to the more applicable, worthwhile information.

Despite these faults, there were some really interesting facts shared. Like how McDonald's chicken nuggets contain lighter fluid in their recipe. And similar to the documentary, Food Inc., there is a description of the horrible treatment of chickens and other livestock. For example, chickens are often fed with a modified diet that will enlarge them in an unnaturally rapid speed. This will fatten them to the point where their legs are unable to keep up, and thus lose the ability to walk. Furthermore, many of our 'organic' and specialty labeled foods are merely gimmicks, or plays on words. The regulations on these crops have fairly low standards, and really aren't incredibly different from normally industrialized food. Also, it delves into the fact that crops from different areas, with different kinds of soils are shown to contain different amounts of nutrients. Similarly, farmed animals whose diets are modified with corn rather than their natural diet of grass or other plants often contain less nutrients in their meats. This book really opens your eyes up to how our diets have been changed in the modern era.

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas

() Zailckas' story relates to anyone who has ever abused alcohol. Namely, college students. And her experience relates directly to females, and the consequences that this can mean for a woman's mental, physical, and sexual health. "I also wrote this book because I wanted to quash the misconceptions about girls and drinking: that girls who abuse are either masculine, sloppy, sexually available, or all of the above, that girls are drinking more and more often in an effort to compete with men, and that alcohol abuse is a life-stage behavior, a youthful excess that is not as damaging as other drugs." (pg. XV-XVI)

The author never developed into an alcoholic, but she had quite a consequential period of an emotional need for alcohol. "I don't have the genetically based reaction to alcohol that addiction counselors call 'a disease.'" (pg. XIV) "I too drank in no small part because I felt shamed, self-conscious, and small." (pg. XVI) Even out of college, she was surrounded by it constantly. Many of her relationships depended on it. It relieved her anxiety in social situations. She grew accustomed to haunting blackouts, embarrassing memories, sickening hangovers, and unstable relationships. She had a hospital scare in her teen years, and may have lost her virginity during one of her memory lapses.

An amazing story with sophisticated writing. And to think, she started shaping this novel at only age 23! Even if you've never touched a drop of alcohol, she illustrates circumstances with clear precision and clever metaphors that will leave you wanting to know more. "She doesn't know that the thing I found in her liquor cabinet has given me the capacity to be a completely different animal on the inside. Inside, I feel exotic and dangerous. I'm a cobra inside a kitty cat. [...] and I know what Columbus must have felt when he washed up on the American shore. Drinking has always been, but it's a New World to me. It's been waiting for me to discover it." (pg. 25) No wonder this became a New York Times Bestseller.

"I think it's no coincidence that a shot is called a shot. You throw back that little jigger of liquor with the same urgency with which a gun fire ammunition into open space. You feel the same ringing in your ears, the same kickback in your arms and chest. The first time you drink, you don't aim to get drunk. The thrill of pulling the trigger is itself enough. If you like the crack of the rifle, you'll be back for a second go, which is when you'll pay attention to the crosshairs and fire enough shots to hit the mark." (pg. 27)
"It's my insides I need to hide. Privately, I feel disfigured. I am ashamed of my gnarled soul, which is something no surgeon can correct. Were my inner workings exposed, I feel certain they would make children stare, and adults avert their eyes. [...] I want to get shit-faced, a term itself that connotes camouflage." (pg. 42)
"Of course, Coors isn't crank or coke or crack. And Heineken isn't heroin. And vodka isn't Valium. And nothing that's mixed with cranberry juice will score you respect with the folks who cop drugs in the public bathroom in Tompkins Square Park. But don't tell that to my brain because when I'm drunk, it purrs with the ecstasy of being thoroughly high." (pg. 158)
"The only upshot of a blackout is that you're spared the emotional effort it takes to repress whatever happened in the midst of it. The night in question forever exists like the train scene in a silent movie, the one where the screen goes dark the instant the train charges the tunnel, and when it emerges a few seconds later with two long whoops of its whistle, the audience never really knows what happened in the tunnel's obscurity. Who made love in the first-class compartment? Who stabbed the man in the club car? You can guess, but you'll never know for sure." (pg. 217)
"It doesn't occur to me that alcohol might be unhinging me, that drinking at the rate I am can induce depression, impulsive behavior, and symptoms of bipolar and borderline personality disorder. Experts suggest that drinking when you fell low is like taking speed when you feel jumpy: It heightens the ailment instead fo remedying it." (pg. 222-223)
"And I'm not the only one who has these destructive thoguhts while I'm wrecked. My phone constantly hums at four in the morning. One of my drinking buddies is always on the other end, stewed to the gills and sobbing hysterically. One says she just dragged a knife too deep across her shin, and she's scared because it won't stop bleeding. [...] It seems that alcohol, which has always given us the courage to dance in public or be close to men, is giving us the fearlessness to abuse ourselves, too." (pg. 240)