A Professor's Rage

I was expecting this book to chronicle the story of Amy Bishop's life. Little did I know, it was a life filled with crime.

Bishop is most widely known for methodically murdering half of the Biology staff at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) in 2010. Bishop was driven to murder because she was denied tenure and would not be continuing on as a Professor at UAH. Violence and disappointment seem to be a common theme in the Amy Bishop crime catalog.

It took 24 years and a mass shooting before the Braintree Massachusetts Police Department finally brought the Seth Bishop shooting to light. In 1986 Amy decided it was time to teach herself how to use her father's shotgun. After it "accidentally" went off in her upstairs bedroom, she attempted to find her brother, Seth, to see if he could help her unload the weapon. Upon running downstairs, the shotgun "accidentally" went off again, this time striking and killing Seth. Instead of staying with him, she ran and unsuccessfully attempted to carjack several drivers before threatening Dinger Ford employees at gunpoint. Realizing they weren't going to give her a car off the lot, she continued running. She was still clutching the gun when police finally attempted to apprehend her.

That's just the beginning of her life of crime.

There's also an incident involving a pipe bomb being sent to one of her bosses after an explosive incident in a research lab. While Amy and her husband have been cleared in this crime, there is still significant evidence that they were involved.

Oh, and she straight up decked a woman in an IHOP because her kid was using the last booster seat.

So, yeah.

Valley of the Dolls

It's 1 o'clock in the morning and I'm angry.

But, I think we can learn a few things from Valley of the Dolls.

 

 Things like....men ain't shit.

Or build your own way in life.

Or don't turn on the ones who love you.

Honestly there was a lot more going on in this book than I expected. Booze is flowing, pills are poppin', and everyone's mental health is a little bit shaky. Not to mention the insomnia, the eating disorders, the suicide attempts, and the abortions. What I think was the most interesting aspect of this book is that these topics weren't really portrayed in a negative or positive light. It felt more like they were just facts of life. It felt real. It felt like Anne, Neely, and Jennifer were real.

I can't really wrap my head around the way I'm feeling about this book right now. It's going to stick with me for a long while. I understand why some people read this and think it's just a trashy piece of literature filled with celebrity gossip. But it's so much more than that. It put the spotlight on mental illness when not many people wanted to talk about it. It shifted the focus to working women who wanted to create a life for themselves, with or without a man. It was raw and powerful. I don't know why it took me so long to read this classic novel but I'm so glad I finally did.

Marilyn Monroe: The Last Interview

Marilyn Monroe is an icon. 

I've never really known much about her, but when I was reading Truman Capote's short story, "A Beautiful Child," I quickly became enthralled by their friendship. I don't think I ever looked beyond Marilyn's persona to think about who she was until I read that story. Seeing Truman Capote write about his friend and her struggles, I had an inkling that she might have a much deeper story than what Hollywood wanted us to see.

I finally found a copy of Marilyn Monroe: The Last Interview in a local bookstore. I snatched it up and devoured it in a few hours. Topping off at 100 pages, this book narrates Marilyn's last interview just weeks before her death. It also features several journalistic conversations where we get real insight into who she was. She didn't set out to become an icon, hell she didn't even want that kind of responsibility. She wasn't the dumb blonde she was typecast as. She was passionate, brilliant, beautiful, and complicated. She just wanted a life to call her very own.

I love her.

I love this.

 

Looking for other books featuring Marilyn Monroe?

Music For Chameleons

Blonde

My Story

 

Looking for other books in The Last Interview Series?

Anthony Bourdain

Kurt Cobain

Gods & Monsters

Okay Shelby, we need to talk about that epilogue because I was not prepared to be crying at 1:30 in the morning.

Gods & Monsters is the final book in the Serpent & Dove series and arguably the best one. This was 612 pages of pure madness. The amount of action in every scene made me not want to close the book. I was immersed in every fight scene, every love scene, just every. single. scene.

I can't even say much about this book without giving away too much of the story. But I'll try.

Lou, Reid, Coco, and Beau are the most wanted people in Cesarine. They're still running from Morgane but they've changed their tactic. They need to eliminate her. Upon seeking new alliances, they decide the best course of action is not running from her, but running towards her. When Reid's magic gets away from him, he creates a nearly ideal world Morgane forgets she ever had a daughter. She can't kill Lou if she doesn't even know she exists. But with every spell comes consequences for the one who cast it....

This book brought forth a lot of grief, understanding, rekindling, and closure.

Honestly, I just love this series and I'm incredibly sad that it's over.

Looking for the rest of the series?

Serpent & Dove (S&D #1)

Blood & Honey (S&D #2)

As Good As Dead

The final book in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy is finally here!!

Quick recap for those who don't know....Pip hosts a true crime podcast aptly named A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (AGGGTM). Based on the ending of Good Girl, Bad Blood, I made the comment about how messy the third book could get. And jesuuuuuuuus, does it get messy.

Pip takes up jogging in As Good As Dead and sees some mysterious chalk figures on her driveway on her way home. Couple that with a few dead pigeons and Pip decides she has a stalker. Obviously based on previous experience with the local police, she knows they won't believe her. So she takes matters into her own hands and decides to investigate on her own.

Her investigation leads her to believe the DT Killer is after her, which makes no sense because he's been behind bars for the last 6 years. Unless......maybe they got the wrong guy. It wouldn't be surprising given the history of shoddy police work in Fairview.

In typical Pip fashion, she quickly gets in over her head.

She needs an alibi and she needs one fast.

 

Looking for the rest of the series?

Kill Joy (AGGGTM #0.5)

 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (AGGGTM #1)

Good Girl, Bad Blood (AGGGTM #2)