I enjoyed this book. It had a “Clue” feeling to it and it was an enjoyable mystery. Solitude, trapped in a remote hotel with no power, stormy weather, a bunch of strangers\u2026It was good until the end. The ending was a bit abrupt and fell a little flat for me, but overall I would recommend it.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n#2 – The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I really enjoyed this book. I found it quirky and charming and very funny. Lili is a widow with two girls. It’s been 5 years since her husband died and she basically lost her mind and had to heal and come back to the land of the living for her girls. She is still in a fragile place. For work, she joins a weekly gardening group and makes a group of new friends and falls in love. <\/p>\n\n\n 3 – Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy by Alastair Gee, Dani Anguiano<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Paradise, California was a small mountain town, a “sanctuary” for people who couldn’t afford houses in the Bay Area. The people that lived in Paradise knew they were in a fire zone. And they thought they were very prepared for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Evacuations would proceed based on which areas were affected, and during a disaster, cars would be permitted to use both lanes on certain roads to flee. Paradise sent out \u201cknow your zone\u201d mailers to residents. It also established a reverse-911 alert system, which would call residents with an automated message in the event of a disaster.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the Paradise\/Camp Fire happened, they didn’t think it would get to Paradise. It was in a different area, the fires usually moved in a similar fashion. But this one was different. It jumped a river–something that they never thought would happen. And then the reverse 911 alert system only worked if you had signed up for it. Many people did not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The flames, when they arrived, were unstoppable, far beyond the capacity of any firefighter to control. In places they burned as hot as a crematorium. Cars turned into rivulets of molten metal. Homes became matches that set fire to the next…apparitions only seen in the most extreme of blazes: fire tornadoes.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people stayed and tried to save their houses–but perished. Some people decided to flee on foot–especially after they saw the gridlock of cars trying to escape. There were only a few roads out of town and to safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “…it birthed a remarkable fire tornado, a product of the high temperatures and hot air from the fire creating a column of superheated air that began to rotate as it rose. The twister was 1,000 feet wide and tore through the area, uprooting trees, tearing roofs off houses, and throwing power lines and cars into the air. Whirling at 143 mph, it reached temperatures of 2,700 degrees and heights of 17,000 feet. A firefighter died when the tornado snatched his 5,000-pound truck and flipped it down a road.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The book profiles many townspeople. People who fled, people who stayed, people who were fighting the fires. It was absolutely riveting. There is so much in this book I can’t do it justice describing it. The descriptions of the fire was so compelling and frightening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ” \u201cIt sounded like a freight train going around. It sounded. . . . It had this other sound too, more evil,\u201d she said. \u201cOh God, I can\u2019t even imagine what I could describe it as close to,\u201d she added. \u201cThere was nothing earthly about it.\u201d “<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt like I was holding my breathe the entire time I read this book. There was one point where trapped people huddled in the middle of a giant parking lot because it was the only space that didn’t have structures or trees and they used fire blankets and hoped that the fire just jumped over them. Also–this parking lot was across the street from the gas station. Wow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I recommend it SO much. It is SOOO good. <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4- On Tyrrany: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think I heard an interview with this author on Rachel Maddow (maybe Fresh Air? can’t remember now) and his book sounded interesting. It is. It’s also terribly frightening. We are at the cusp of democracy crumbling. I am not being hyperbolic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Aristotle warned that inequality brought instability, while Plato believed that demagogues exploited free speech to install themselves as tyrants.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “It took less than a year for the new Nazi order to consolidate. By the end of 1933, Germany had become a one-party state in which all major institutions had been humbled.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Some of the Germans who voted for the Nazi Party in 1932 no doubt understood that this might be the last meaningfully free election for some time, but most did not. Some of the Czechs and Slovaks who voted for the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1946 probably realized that they were voting for the end of democracy, but most assumed they would have another chance.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n History is indeed repeating itself and we are watching the fall in real time. This book is short, a very fast read, and very scary. Read it. Be prepared. <\/p>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/34599806._SY475_.jpg\")
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