Holly Quick Backlist Reviews, Bookman!: Week 49

Just to get through some backlog of books I've read, I'll post 4 super short reviews of backlist titles every Wednesday. 

1. First Man: Reimagining Matthew Henson by Simon Schwartz (Graphic Universe ™, 2015): This novel was incredibly depressing. Definitely learned some interesting history about US expeditions to the North Pole (the first US citizen there was, quite likely, Matthew Henson, an African American man). The really interesting thing was that Matthew Henson was incorporated into Inuit mythology which is why I wish they had gone more into that aspect. However, Henson gained very little recognition and faced immense racism and the people he was with on the expeditions did horrible things (like giving Inuit people to the NMNH). 5 stars.
2. Operation Ajax: The Story of the CIA Coup that Remade the Middle East by Mike de Seve (Verso, 2015):  I definitely learned a lot. The key of important figures in the beginning was very helpful, but needed to be more extensive (a timeline somewhere would also have been helpful). But the novel definitely accomplished the goal of teaching me a lot more about the coup and wanting me to learn more. 4 stars.
3. Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins on Your Favorite Songs by Erik Didriksen (Quirk Books, 2015): A ton of fun. 5 stars.
4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown and Company, 2005): Imagine discovering that not only is Dracula actually Vlad the Impaler and still "living," but your parents and many people before them have been investigating him...and then your dad goes missing. That is this fantastic book. The pace got a little off at times, as though it might've been a better series as opposed to one very long book, but a really interesting read. 4 stars.