Death Masks Jim Butcher

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5

Harry is hired by a priest from Italy to find a very special artifact that has been stolen. The thief plans to sell it to a wealthy person in Chicago. Harry soon learns that the artifact is none other than the Shroud of Turin and he strongly suspects that the wealthy businessman is John Marcone. Harry meets two other sword-wielding men of God like Michael who help him track down the shroud. They learn of a plan to unleash a deadly curse and have to work to stop that from happening. In the meantime, Harry is challenged to a dual by a vampire named Ortega. The vampires want Dresden's blood for what he did to the Red Court vampire Bianca. Ortega promises that Chicago will be made neutral ground in the vampire/White Council war if Harry wins.
To top it all off, Susan, Harry's half-vampire ex girlfriend has returned (albeit temporarily) and they reconnect.

There were a lot of things happening in this book as usual, although the plot was a little more doomsday than some of the books have been. The villains who would unleash a deadly plague (slightly more cartoonish/comic book-esque than the regular Dresden Files villains) are controlled by demons, and the possession happens by picking up a coin. Harry picks up one such coin at the beginning of the book, and they spend a little time trying to get him to open himself up to it. Harry has no interest of course, but the lure is there, and he has to figure out how to handle the coin. The vampire dual is over fairly quickly in the book, and we get to see Thomas of the White Court appear in all his sass and allure as Ortega's second. We meet an important character, Kinkaid, who is acting as a bodyguard to the mediator of the dual. My absolute favorite part of this whole book concerns Marcone. It is very clear the Harry DESPISES Marcone, and of course the crime boss is not particularly on the up and up. However, he is SMART and you can tell that he isn't cruel and spiteful. He is very powerful because he has made calculating decisions. He doesn't kill without reason. I find his character extremely fascinating, and we learn more about him at the end of this book -- it makes his character make a lot more sense!

This was a solid installment in the Dresden File series. I enjoyed it!

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Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Rating: 5/5

In the midst of the war between the vampires and the White Council, Harry is asked to do a favor for Thomas, a shifty sort-of-ally from the White Court of vampires. Thomas wants Harry to help his friend Arturo Genosa stay safe from a Malocchio curse (a type of entropy curse). It seems to be targeting the women in Arturo's life. So Harry is hired on in Genosa's adult film studio as a production assistant. On the first day, two people nearly die, and Harry meets some of the major players and starts to piece things together. Throughout this story, he meets other members of Thomas's family. Meanwhile, he is also on a mission to hunt down a Black Court Vampire named Mavra and exterminate some of her scourge in a preemptive strike. He hires Kinkaid and also enlists the help of his mentor, Ebenezer. Karrin Murphy rounds out the group.

As with the other books in the Dresden Files series, Harry runs around getting himself nearly killed at almost every turn. His wit is charming (and he seems a little happier in this book compared to the last couple). He struggles to pay his bills, and he learns a few very important and surprising things about his mother. I have honestly loved every single book in this series, but this one has been my favorite so far. The characters are well developed, and I am digging the relationships between Harry and Karrin and Harry and Thomas in particular. Every book is a delightful experience.

I was trying to pace myself/savor the series, but I had to start book seven right away. I love this series!

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Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter

Genre: Nutrition and Wellness
Rating 4.5/5

How many times have we heard over the years that eggs are bad for us because they raise our cholesterol? How many people do you know who are on Statins? What about saturated fats? Aren't they artery-clogging nightmares? This book debunks some myths about fats and carbohydrates and has one major message: Your brain thrives on fats! While the focus is in on wheat and gluten, the book also talks about the effect of the American high-carb diet on the body and brain.

I began looking into the Paleo lifestyle after I had my first child, and it helped me lose weight. I read The Paleo Approach by Sarah Ballantyne and learned a lot about how grains can cause inflammation. Grain Brain explains in greater detail how that happens and also posits that many people may have gluten sensitivity even if they don't have full-blown celiac disease. There is inflammation going in the brain that cannot be felt when we consume gluten (there are no pain receptors in the brain!) Grain affects not only the gut but also the brain in many ways. The correlations between grain consumption and Alzheimer's and other brain disorders is fairly shocking. I was impressed by the success stories he shared about patients with a wide variety of issues who regained their health by cutting gluten. It's not just about weight loss -- that seems to be just a nice perk. Cutting gluten seems to really help lots of people with ADHD, depression, autism, diabetes, and more. In the case of diabetes, Perlmutter believes it is in fact a brain disorder rather than anything else.

One of the main reasons he gives for cutting grains is that, because of selective breeding and GMOs (although he never says the word "GMO"), the amount of gluten in our grains has increased dramatically over the past century or so. We are consuming WAY more gluten than people hundreds or thousands of years ago. Our food, very simply, is different in many ways. He gives good explanations for why he believes we would be better off without grains (and, in fact, most carbs) and better off consuming more fat.

I recently read Spark by John Ratey, which is about how exercise affects the brain, so there was a little overlap. Grain Brain has a chapter about exercise and the brain. Even though exercise doesn't deal directly with gluten, it does have a lot to do with brain health in general, so I was glad this section was included.

Although he is a doctor, he doesn't recommend all kinds of medications. This is very much a holistic, nutrition-and-lifestyle-based book. He does, however, recommend certain supplements. Americans tend to be deficient in Vitamin D, for example. He recommends other things like turmeric since we don't get as much of that in our food as people from other countries. He gives great explanations for the supplements, and they are in no way "required" in the plan, just recommended for better overall health.

At the end of the book, Dr. Perlmutter outlines a four-week plan for cutting gluten and implementing an exercise regimen (or if you already exercise, increasing your exercise regimen). There are also recipes included in the print version. He provides examples for substitutions as well.

There was only one major thing I disliked about this book. One is the "hype" aspect of it. The author kept saying things like: "I'll prove it to you." "This will change your life." "You can solve your problems by following this plan." Although I do believe in the concepts and philosophy of this book, I feel like the book and the research should speak for themselves. I know a lot of people bristle at the thought of cutting "an entire food group," but his explanations are so thorough and convincing, that I hope people will give this book a chance.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is serious about changing their health and skeptical of the USDA high-carb recommendations. Those following the Atkins diet, a keto diet, or the Paleo diet will gain a deeper understanding of the concepts of their diet.

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