Review: American Sweepstakes

American Sweepstakes: How One Small State Bucked the Church, the Feds, and the Mob to Usher in the Lottery Age
by Kevin Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Books that look at a period of history through the lens of a specific object (Salt: A World History for example) are one of my favorite ways to learn about history. This book is like that in that while it is focused on the NH Sweepstakes there are a lot of side stories that weave into that history (the Brinks Heist and the Kennedy assassination among them). Flynn is a great storyteller and he brings this story of legislation and state government policymaking (which is more interesting than it sounds anyway) to life with quirky details, language that fits the story, and background stories that illuminate why people may have acted as they did.
This is a very enjoyable book about a sliver of New Hampshire history that still impacts our state's schools.

Review: Birdseye

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Birdseye's life was interesting, but perhaps not eventful enough to support a full biography. The book seemed a bit thin on substance. The side-trips into Labrador history and the histories of the various businesses Birdseye was connected to made for good reading, but the connection to the subject of the book didn't seem all that strong.
I listened to the audiobook version of this and the narrator, Jon Van Ness, did a good job with it. However, he had a midwestern-sounding accent and that seemed out of place to me as he was narrating the life of a New Englander.

This book counts toward the Foodies Read Challenge and the Canadian Book Challenge.

My Ever Growing TBR List

Beth Fish Reads has a foodie-bio in her 'best of the rest' post that could be excellent for my Foodies Read Challenge. I almost always love Mark Kurlansky's books so Birdseye is going on the TBR list.

And a couple from the Power of Habit Readalong:
Crafting a Life by Donald Murray (a NH author)
Instant Recess by Toni Yancey