Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill (CBR-V #28)

Cannonball Read V: Book #28/52
Published: 2013
Pages: 416
Genre: Memoir/Nonfiction

Before reading this book, I thought for some reason that Jenna Miscavige Hill was Scientology leader David Miscavige's daughter. She's actually his niece, but still very much part of a high profile Scientology family. She was born into the religion in 1984 (make her only a year older than myself) before her uncle took over. Both of her parents were devout followers of L. Ron Hubbard's odd religion and were a part of the Sea Org, which is basically Scientology slave labor that they sign billion year contracts for (no, that is not an exaggeration). 

Jenna was devout herself growing up, despite her less than ideal childhood. Her parents pretty much left on her on a Scientology ranch and she only got to see them a few times a year. The ranch provided a place to stay and food to a handful of kids and they also got some schooling, although most of it was church curriculum. That was probably the most interesting part of the book. As a child, I cannot imagine going through all of the "tests" they had to take. Basically everything is done or repeated over and over and over again until is ingrained into these kid's heads. The repetitiveness is enough to drive most people mad. Then they had the constant auditing sessions where an e-meter was used to clear their thoughts and force them to confess anything they might be witholding. If that last sentence didn't make any sense to you, you'll catch on to the Scientology lingo pretty quickly while reading the book. 

The saddest part was Jenna's reluctance to leave the church even after her parents got out. It was all she had ever known. The brainwashing they do to these kids is absolutely heartbreaking. They tear apart families so that the children are literally more dependent and loyal to the church than to their own family.

This book is engaging and very well written, however, I did read a pretty thorough history of Scientology before this book (Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief) and I think it did help with understanding a lot that was going on in the background. This book is pretty exclusively just Jenna's story and doesn't really delve into the inner workings or history of Scientology.  

Bowie by Marc Spitz (CBR-V #27)

Cannonball Read V: Book #27/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 429
Genre: Biography

If you ask anyone who knows me, they'll tell you I'm a huge David Bowie fan. I was browsing my local library and saw this book and just had to pick it up. The only Bowie biography I had previously read was his ex-wife's book about their history together called Backstage Passes. It was a pretty good read with a lot of Bowie's history, but it was (obviously) very biased. 

Marc Spitz's biography is an incredibly detailed story of David Bowie's life all the way from how his parents met up until his quiet life in the late 2000's. Of course Bowie released his first album in a decade just this spring, so he's not quite finished with his career yet, even at 66 years old! Even if you're not a fan, you have do admit the man has had quite the career, almost completely reinventing himself every decade.

David Bowie started out as David Robert Jones in London. Even as a child, he knew he wanted to be a famous rock and roll star. Bowie wasn't one of those "instant stars" who was discovered one day out of the blue. He worked hard for a long time before he finally got recognition with his breakout song in the 1960's, "Space Oddity". Although most people recognize it today it actually wasn't a huge hit at first. Bowie probably wasn't considered a well-known rock star until he invented Ziggy Stardust in the early 70s at the onset of the glam rock movement. 

Of course he famously retired Ziggy after a few years and adopted several other onstage personalities over the rest of the 1970s (Halloween Jack, The Thin White Duke) and hit his biggest commercial success of his career in the 80s with the Let's Dance album. The 90s brought about a more experimental Bowie and he found some success collaborating with Trent Reznor and touring with Nine Inch Nails. People assumed his 2003 album, Reality, would be his last after he had emergency heart surgery and then stayed quiet until just a few months ago. 


This book was so in depth that it's probably not for anyone but Bowie fans. It's not what I'd call "light reading". However, if you're a fan this is a great biography (although I'd also recommend Angie Bowie's book for her interesting inside perspective). 

The Woman by Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee (CBR-V #26)

Cannonball Read V: Book #26/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 208
Genre: Horror

I picked up this book because I really like Jack Ketchum for the most part (The Girl Next Door is one of my favorite horror novels) and I really enjoyed the first two books in this particular series (Off Season and Offspring). I didn't even know there was a third book until recently.

The Woman would read fine as a stand alone book, but if you've read Off Season and Offspring, you have more of a background on who the Woman is and where she came from. After the massacre at the end of Offspring, she is wandering the woods on her own and is found by a guy named Christopher Cleek. For some reason that I'm not entirely sure of (just insane, I guess?) he decides to take the Woman and lock her up in his cellar then try and bring his wife and kids in on the fun of trying to "domesticate" her. Turns out Chris is a pretty sick guy (and so is his pervert son) and there's lots of blood and rape. 

Sadly, this book disappointed me, especially since I know Ketchum is capable of a much better story. This one felt like he just sort of threw it together last minute. It doesn't help that I just recently read the excellent The Summer I Died, which also involves a crazy person holding someone against their will in a basement. This isn't a terrible book (Ketchum is an excellent writer in general), but it just fell short in the character department. The Woman was alright because I knew her character from the previous two novels, but the family who kidnapped her weren't as fully formed as I'd like. I never got a clear reason WHY the father was insane and WHY THE HELL DID HIS WIFE OR DAUGHTER NOT RUN TO THE POLICE THE FIRST CHANCE THEY GOT?? I'm sorry, but if my husband or my dad told me that he had a wild woman chained up in the basement the last thing I'd do would be to stay in that house. The whole family just took the whole thing in stride. It was weird. 


I'd definitely recommend Off Season and Offspring, but maybe skip the third book in this trilogy as it doesn't really seem to add much to the story from the first two novels. 

Beyond the Deep by William Stone & Barbara am Ende (CBR-V #25)

Cannonball Read V: Book #25/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 352
Genre: Memoir/Nonfiction

Apparently I'm on a cave kick right now (after recently reading The Deep Zone and Blind Descent) but I think I'm starting to get burnt out. Beyond the Deep is written by Bill Stone, who was one of the men featured in Blind Descent. His journey through the Huautla cave in Mexico was a large part of Blind Descent, but this is a much more in depth account of that journey.

Bill and his then-girlfriend, Barbara, are leading a team to try and extend the depth of Huautla. Bill believes that it has the potential to be the world's deepest cave after some non-toxic dye was placed in the river at the mouth of the cave and it exited in a river miles away - he just has to find a way through. However, Bill isn't the best leader. He's gruff and focused more on the goal than the people who are helping him get there. He seems to be more suited to solo caving expeditions, but he really can't do one of this caliber without a lot of help. After the death of a well-liked team member, most of the crew is hesitant to continue, so he and Barbara end up doing the last leg of the descent alone. 

This book is VERY in depth. It's full of caving lingo (there's a glossary in the back to help) and so detailed that you have to read slowly to really picture what's going on. I think in this case Blind Descent was better because it was more condensed. Four hundred pages of rocks and cliffs and ropes gets repetitive after a while and it gets a little hard to follow all of the sumps and passages even with the handy maps that are included in the book. 

I also wanted a little more character development. Blind Descent took the time to really flesh out the two men it followed. I actually think I learned more about Bill Stone from that book than the one he actually authored. Beyond the Deep was almost strictly action oriented and I had a hard time telling a lot of the cavers apart. When one of the crew dies, I knew that he was well-liked the rest of the crew but I didn't feel like the author showed the reader that.


It's an incredible story though. I may just be burnt out from reading so many caving books recently. 

Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky (CBR-V #24)

Cannonball Read V: Book #24/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 256
Genre: Memoir

I love reading memoirs from people who work in seemingly mundane customer service jobs such as waiting tables, working on a cruise ship or, in this case, working the front desk of a hotel. I've worked several customer service jobs myself and it seems that no matter what type of CS job you may have, the customers are all pretty much the same. 

Jacob Tomsky (although he goes by "Tom" for most of the book) started out as a valet worker when a new high class hotel opened in New Orleans. He quickly moved up the ranks to the front desk and then to a housekeeping management job before he moved to New York. He tried to change careers, but his degree in philosophy wasn't really getting him anywhere so he started working the front desk of a five star hotel in New York City. 

This book was great. I laughed when Tom described his cokehead managers who stole from the minibars and passed out in empty rooms. I cringed when he talked about bad tippers and rude customers (as a former waitress, those rang a little too close to home). He also gave tips on how to NOT be one of those terrible hotel guests (hint: a $20 bill gets you just about anything). 

On top of the entertaining stories, Tomsky is actually a good writer and very humorous. This book had the potential to be a very dry selection of stories about weird hotel guests, but the author really put some life into it and it made all the difference.