Shocking Cases from Dr. Henry Lee's Forensic Files: The Phil Spector Case / the Priest's Ritual Murder of a Nun / the Brown's Chicken Massacre and More!
Perfectly dreadful. Plodding and so repetitive it was almost funny. The cases were interesting but the writing was miserable. There seems to be a sub-genre of true crime that consists of narrative describing police reports immediately followed by the text of those reports. If you'd like an example, I offer this book.
The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
I might have liked this less this had I read it first, but on the heels of Shocking Cases it was a relief. It still had the Maddening reminders that the author was writing a book—the book in your hands right now, see how she's written this book everyone?—that appear to be standard in celebrity memoirs. But other than that I found it enjoyable reading about her wonderful family and childhood and beyond and ideas about what makes things funny.
Unseen Academicals (Discworld)
BIG step up in quality here. First of all I felt as though I deserved this treat, having previously read Fever Pitch
The Empathy Exams: Essays
I rate this one even higher but not on the fun scale. Talk about your self-indulgent meditative essays... your luminous, exquisite, lyrical chunks of thought. Some of these were flawless. I'd say half were just out-and-out lovely. Others were too impractical for my taste, but I did appreciate their craft. I might re-read this before I return it.
