Since I have been playing a ton of bar trivia lately, I wanted to start off with a fun round of Before and After. Here’s the gist: I give you two clues, you find the shared word that connects the two clues and come up with an answer. It’s similar to everyone’s favorite round on Wheel of Fortune.
Clue #1: A National Book of the Year finalist that mixes architecture and murder in the city of the 2016 MLB Champions.
Clue #2: A city in the rockies where it isn’t uncommon to play the game “Hipster or Hobo.”
5…4…3…2…1…
Answer: The Devil in the White City of Denver
Congrats to everyone who answered correctly! Based on my assumed readership, congrats Mom & Dad. I wanted to title this post The Devil in the White City of Denver, but figured it would be more fun to torture those who were nice enough to click on the link I post on Facebook. Why spoil all of the fun early? It’s what I tell all of my students, “create a title that is bland and boring and make your reader guess as they go. Trust me, everyone loves that game.” Anyways, I recently moved to Denver and volume 6 of My Boyfriend’s Book Club is The Devil in the White City so it works.
Denver Highlights: Today marks Denver day 10 and everything has been going well. I like the area where we live, there is a park right across the street so I can work on turning Oliver’s bratwurst physique into one that is AKC Chihuahua/Beagle/other certified, and there are Little Free Libraries EVERYWHERE! It’s like Oprah visited HOA meetings in the city and passed out Little Free Libraries to someone on every street. So far I have picked up The Girls by Emma Cline. Oh, and I am employed so that’s a major perk.
My Boyfriend’s Book Club, vol. 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah… we skipped volumes 4 and 5, alert the media. But when you spend approximately 48 hours together every month for a year, writing a blog about books is not at the top of the list. You’ll be happy to know that we did actually read two great books which can be found in our catalogue at the end of the post. Also, this write-up will not be identically formatted as my previous posts because, well, I make the rules. (Plus I haven’t posted in months so don’t act like you actually remember my previous formatting.)
Published: 2003 Pages: 447 Genre: History, True Crime
Why This?: This month was my pick. I selected it based on my love of True Crime (shoutout to my fave podcast My Favorite Murder) and the fact that it seemed fitting since it is one year since Will and I took a trip to Chicago. Plus, we can prep for the Leo film that is supposed to be in development.
Shae’s Short Summary: The World’s Fair is coming to town! Buy up all of the cheap land near the fairgrounds to build a hotel filled with torture devices because, honestly, no law enforcement agency will even care if someone complains that their daughter has gone missing. Insert a lot of information on landscape architecture and take a short break with a creeper named Prendergast.
Will’s Thoughts: “Being a History major, it was interesting how much collaboration was required to put the fair together. The look behind the scenes was very cool. Also, it was interesting to read about how easy it was to be a serial killer back then, and just how dumb the people were around H.H. Holmes.”
Shae’s Thoughts: “Dude, that girl left her footprint on a metal door. Crazy.”
Real Talk: How did this book not win the National Book of the Year award? Just a reminder of the Nonfiction winner from 2003, in case you forgot, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire…read by no one ever. Larson made the old saying “I’d rather watch paint dry” a farce, literally. His meticulous research and narrative style made the subjects of paint, soil, and dimensions competitive equals to murder, deception, and overall weirdness. We love that stuff! The Devil in the White City is proof of how deeply rooted murder is in America, a sad and morose conclusion but true.
It would be a shame if I didn’t close this post with some sage advice from the women of My Favorite Murder, Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered!
Rating: 
4.5/5
Next Pick: We have our first ever guest pick from Will’s brother, Peter! The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s been compared to the Holy Grail, Harry Potter so I’m already in love. Plus if a guy with the last name Rothfuss can’t write a badass fantasy novel, life just doesn’t make sense.
Catalogue:
- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (Will)
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (Shae)
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Will)
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Shae)
- Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger (Will)
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Shae)
stuffbyshae 