#10 - Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Yup - I picked up this book because I wanted to watch the Netflix series and can't do it until I read the book.  Overdrive audio had the files and it seemed like the perfect way to accomplish that goal. (sidenote: I have since watched the series and, trust me, there are serious and marked differences between the two)

I found most of this book really intriguing. I can't imagine having a past that I put behind me creep up out of nowhere and land me in prison for 15 months of my life.  And now that I've read this account I'm tragically afraid that it could happen to me.  Piper's account of her time in women's prison was at times funny and heartwarming.  It provided rare insight into what it is actually like for inmates in a minimum security prison, both the good and the bad.  It's amazing to peek inside the encapsulated societies that exist within the walls of the prison. I enjoyed the portrayal of the different inmates that befriended her along her journey and could only imagine how jarring it must have been to have given up her metropolitan life to be put in a completely foreign situation with people who could not be considered peers by any stretch of the imagination.

Goodreads rating: 4 stars

In progress: (nook) Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
(audio): Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding