memoirs...

Hello friends Long time reader first time writer. ..
   I have been on a memoir kick lately.  The last 3 of 4 books I have read have fallen into that category (I'll post on the 4th book later) I'm not super good at writing and -full disclosure im writing this on my smartphone but... here goes.

Also all 3 books have some serious language and at least 1 has some adult situations. Just a heads up.

The first book I read was lone survivor by marcus littrel. this is the story of seal team 10 and operation redwing-which went terribly wrong.  The book is a great look into what the special forces go through. the first 6ish chapters focus on marcus's upbringing and training for the seals. If you aren't into military...everything like I am I've heard this part can be kinda long. I Loved it. The training the went through from the time marcus and his twin brother Morgan (who also became a seal) were teens is intense and the actual seal training has always been kind've kept underwraps But this book gives the most comprehensive look I've ever been able to find. After all the training chapters it moves into the ill fated mission behind enemy lines.  In case you don't know the story 4 seals were dropped into the mountains behind a Taliban controlled town in the hopes of getting Intel and maybe even the opportunity to take out a major Taliban leader. Shortly into the mission 3 goat headers- an older man and a teen and a small child- found the seals completely blowing their cover. The team decides to abandon their mission and let the goat hearders go rather than killing them and breaking the rules of engagement amd saving the mission.  This discussion among the team and the repercussions of it are so..conflicting. Its easy to say obviously they should kill the shepherds but its not so easy when they lay it out. One of the shepherds was about 6-8 years old. Maybe younger.  and even killing them they would've been in a pickle. They just would've had a little more time to prepare. All four members of the team had good points and ultimately I think I would've gone with the same thing they did but who knows. Anyway after they let the Shepards go within about an hour the seals were surrounded by Taliban.  The seals lasted a while and what they go through before the end is incredible. The last 3 or 4 chapters deal with marcus as the lone survivor and what happens when he reaches the village. As soon as my children are old enough to handle the subject matter they will read this and watch the movie -it is a tear jerker I read this book on my breaks at work..poor choice. I seriously cannot say enough good things about this book. I would hope that everyone would give this book a read despite the language.

The second book I read is orange is the new black. This is the story of one woman's year in woman's prison for being a drug mule for her girlfriend in college.  (This is the book with some adult situations..)
 We love the Netflix series based on this book. (Fyi incase any of you are looking to watch it. It would probably be rated at least r if not nc-17. Its a good series just very explicit with lesbian scenes. you have been warned) Because I had watched that I think I was a little spoiled.  If I had to do it again I think I would read the book first.  As the series is just that a series some of the situations were embellished or flat out made up to make the story better for tv. So a lot of things I was expecting were not in the book or not the same even a little. Piper (the main character) also comes off a lot more snooty in the book than on tv. I like netflix piper a whole lot more than I like book piper. I kinda hate book piper. Anyway this book is an interesting look at the life in a minimum security prison and may make you question some of the "mandatory sentences" for certain law violations but I dont think its anything I will read again for a while. For now I'll stick to my netflix jazzed up version of the story.

The third book im going to discuss is called silver screen fiend by patton Oswalt  This a very quick read (the audio book is under 5 hours) but its not very funny. I think if I had known that this book wasn't funny..like at all.. it would've been a different experience while reading.  If you don't know Patton Oswalt is the voice of Remy the rat in rattatiouie (or however thats spelled..I dont speak french nor own the movie to go look at ) as well as a whole slew of other acting credits. (Once you know what he looks and sounds like it seems he's everywhere) but he got his start and is still known for being a stand up comic. Being that he can always tickle my funny bone I feel like initially I was kinda let down by the lack of funny in the book. However once I got past the fact that is wasn't a stand up routine disguised as a memoir I really enjoyed it. The book is basically a look at 4 or 5 years of patton's life when he was just starting to break through with his career. However during this time he was watching at least 1 if not 2 or 3 movies in theaters per day. It became his addiction as real as any drug ones. Most of the movies he talks about are very old classics (Casablanca) or art house foreign films (irreversible a French drama) but as you can imagine watching that many movies there is a little bit of everything.  Its actually fairly interesting to see how he relates and pieces things together.  As someone who is a little into movies myself it really spoke to me to see how it affected his life and the way it shaped some of his views on things. I dont know if this book is for everyone but as an obsessive bipolar cinephile who loves art house dramas and indie sundance films I believe I will be back to visit this book again and again.

well thats all for now. as promised I will be back with a review of the 4th book.. but thats another show.

Good night and happy reading.