Killing Pretty - Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim Series, Bk. 7)

 Honestly, this one was kinda slow. I'm not sure if it was on purpose, but the MC loses his ability to shadow walk and laments this loss in terms of how it slows him down, consequently, I also felt like the book slowed down in keeping with this complaint. Was that the authors plan? Maybe, or maybe this was just a slower book. I'm also not super stoked with how it resolved itself. But don't worry, I'll certainly keep reading.

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

 This was another "you should read" books, and going into it I was real worried it would be awful like Sula was, but I actually liked it. The MC, as well as pretty much everyone around her, shows wonderful growth and acceptance as a human being. It starts off a little rough, but the story is steady and keeps a good pace. It's pretty easy to follow while still being interesting. You do want the characters to be better. 

Straight - Chuck Tingle

 As far a Chuck Tingle goes, this is WAY more mainstream than his average stuff. I liked it over all. As far a zombies go, seems as reasonable as any other cause! I'm not sure I would recommend this book to anyone except those like me who enjoy the absurdity of all the straight people losing their minds for no real reason and going on a killing spree. It was fun though!

Standing My Ground: A capitol police officer's fight for accountability and good trouble after January 6th - Harry Dunn

This book was intense! It's another one I think probably everyone should read. The author doesn't hide his personal political preferences, but I believe he is completely justified in them, especially after what he went through and simply existing is an AA man in the United States.  It seems like, despite a very clear inquiry, many Americans either don't or refuse to understand what happened during the insurrection on January 6th, and this book lays out the officer's side clearly, as well as the aftermath. 

Doctor Sleep - Stephen King (The Shining sequel)

 I'm glad he wrote this book.  It was a pretty standard Stephen King book.  I really like the idea of following up to catch the young characters from one-off books many years later, just to see what happened. It was a fun book. 

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma - Peter A. Levine

 So much of this seemed hokey and ridiculous, but I don't believe I've ever had any trauma, so I can't be in a position to say what does or doesn't work to resolve such things. There were some components that rang true to me, like allowing your body and mind to go through the innate actions of processing an event shortly after it occurs. This makes sense to me. But re-enacting the event with a different outcome does not because the thing still happened. I guess it works for the same reason placebos work. 

I thought there were some useful components to the book, but I don't know that it was worth all the hype. Much of it was devoted to examples. 

The Silvered Serpents - Roshani Chokshi (Gilded Wolves Series, Bk. 2)

 This book has some really cool concepts.  The characters are a little polarized. I know the author was really going for dichotomy, but it's a little overplayed sometimes. Otherwise, it's a good book overall and I look forward to the next one.