Introduction

OK, I stole the title of my blog from this excellent book by Sara Nelson. I admit it. I'm also stealing the premise of her book - she basically spent a year reading as many books as she could, and then wrote about it. Not a bad way to spend a year. Though, even if I spent an entire year reading, and doing nothing else (well, except sleeping and eating), I wouldn't be able to make it through the shelves full of unread books in my apartment. Last April, sensing the overflowing nature of my bookcases, my boyfriend gave me the very thoughtful gift of a new bookcase, which is of course now jammed full of books I have since accumulated but not read.

But let's get to the point - my plan for this blog is just to write about whatever I happen to be reading. I'm not really narcissistic enough to think anyone will care much about what I'm reading, but my friends who know what a bookworm I am often ask me for book recommendations. I tend to divide my reading pretty evenly between fiction and nonfiction, although so far this year I have been favoring nonfiction.

So.....let's get started. Right now I am reading "Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob," by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. It's a book written by two Boston Globe reporters about the activities of South Boston gangster Whitey Bulger and some very corrupt Boston FBI agents during the 1970s and 80s. If you've seen "The Departed," Bulger is the real-life gangster that the Jack Nicholson character was based on. It's a fascinating story, especially for me since I live in the Boston neighborhood where Whitey grew up and based his criminal operations. All I can say is, Southie has changed A LOT since those days.... Whitey is on the lam and the old bar where he hung out is now fixed up and surrounded by a sushi place, a yuppie bar and tons of luxury condos. I didn't know much about this story until I started reading this book - it's almost unbelievable how far the FBI was willing to go to protect Bulger, who was in their eyes a valuable informant, but was literally getting away with murder. All in all, this is a very interesting look at a sordid piece of Boston history.

In future posts, I will talk about a few of the books that I have read earlier this year....