Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institute

 

I heard about this book in discussions of Netflix's show Orange is the New Black. This book is a collection of writings from women prisoners at a Connecticut prison. The title character is the name of a male writer who held sessions at the prison, helping inmates write their story.

One of the stories is about Diane. She started dating a coworker when she was young. He raped her and eventually became pregnant. Both of their parents agreed the two should get married. On day two of their marriage, Diane's husband was very late to work. When questioned, he said he had to spend time explaining to his second girlfriend that he got married to someone else.

Diane had plenty of other stories to tell. Her father had run away to live with the woman next door. Initially the children and grandma did not believe it. But Diane's mother was adamant. Her mother had the kids wake up early one morning, and spy on the neighbor's house. Diane was put in charge of taking a flashlight and investigating. Lo and behold, her dad was actually hiding in the neighbor's car.

The World According to Karl

This book is a collection of saying by Karl Lagerfeld. He was the a contractor for Chanel. But he was not any old contractor. He served as the fashion director. Karl was known to wear dark glasses, as well as super high collars on his shirts. He wore gloves frequently.

Karl wished for 48 hours days, so he could get everything done. He thought trendy and tacky were very close to each other. He hated rumpled clothing. He spoke English, German, and French. He had a cat he named Choupette.

Karl believed that money should be spent. He spent a lot of money on clothes. He figured he made a lot of money with clothes, so that was okay. He said his best ideas came to him in his sleep. He kept a pad and pen next to his bed to document those ideas.

When Karl was young, a fortune teller told his mom that he would become a priest. His mom was aghast at this. She prohibited Karl from ever entering any churches. He never went to any weddings or funerals when he was young.

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets

This is book 3 in the Enola Holmes series. Enola, younger sister or Sherlock Holmes, is living by herself in London. She seems to be in hiding from her brothers. Enola finds out that Watson is missing. And she takes the case on.

The first clue is a weird set of flowers sent to Watson's wife. Enola sets up a sting, renting a house across the street from the Watson's. There she spies on a boy delivering similar flowers to the house again. She gives chase, and gets details from the boy on who asked him to deliver the flowers.

Enola sneaks into Sherlock's home and finds an address for disguises. She visits the store, planning to get some items to disguise herself. The owner's wife helps Enola. Later, Enola returns asking for details that the weird flower donor used to disguise themselves. The owner becomes agitated and irate. Enola finds this suspicious.

Eventually Enola spies on the shop owner and finds that the owner's sister disguises herself as a man. And the sister is the one who sent the weird flowers. The sister is also the one to arranged for Watson to be abducted.

Enola decides that it is best if one of her brothers goes to rescue Watson. She also sends an anonymous tip to the cops to collect the guilty parties. Enola decides that this episode confirms that she is detective material. So she poses as the secretary of a detective. But she will solve cases herself. The next case is the next book in the series.

Takedown - The Pusuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick

Shimomura has his computers hacked. He is a self proclaimed security expert. So he tries to find out who did it. He has some trails left behind by the hacker. He needs to go around the USA to get help from other sites used in the hack. He also needs the help from the FBI to perform "the takedown".

This guy is not a likeable dude. He was unable to graduate from high school or college. Yet he thinks everyone is stupid compared to himself. This big headed attitude extends to his views on the FBI. I don't think there is a doubt that his computers were hacked. But the guy lacks credibility. Who knows whether Kevin Mitnick was the one who did it.

Shimomura spends a lot of time trying to describe what is essentially an affair he is having with a girl. This really has no bearing on the hacking story. In the end, the FBI descends upon Mitnick, who is on parole and is already in trouble for some other crimes. As as aside, the book is co-authored by John Markoff, who previously wrote a book and New York Times articles on Mitnick.