Last week I finished:
I love a good book about a president or first lady. They are my reading sweet spots. The latest biography of first lady Barbara Bush, Susan Page's The Matriarch, was a wonderful treat for what started out as a finicky reading month. This is the portrait of the wife of the 41st president and mother of the 43rd. What makes this especially important and special is that it was authorized by Barbara Bush, and in fact, she sat down for five interviews at the end of her life to answer questions for the book. She also allowed the writer access to her diaries, so her own thoughts and words could be presented. Numerous interviews with family, friends, both president Bushes, staff, and many others, were also conducted. The book, only 350 pages, covers Mrs. Bush's long life from her days growing up and attending school in the East to the early days of her marriage to George Bush in the oil fields of Texas to the death of her three-year-old daughter Robin, to her days as a politician's wife to her White House years and beyond. She discusses how George Bush took the lead and she followed (a paradigm we don't look favorably on these days but that worked well for them), how she felt about her sons getting into politics, how she felt about Nancy Reagan (particularly juicy), the similarities with George W. Bush and differences with Laura Bush, her midlife depression, and how she felt about being pigeonholed as America's matron who never worked outside the home. She lived an incredible, long life, and she was known for her frankness (sometimes to the point of hurting feelings), self-deprecating humor, and though the author never points it out, her words speak for her remarkable self-awareness. It is an honest book, and while comprehensive, it never bogs down in detail. If you have read Barbara Bush's memoir, Barbara Bush: A Memoir, or other books about the Bush family (such as memoirs by George W. Bush, Laura Bush, or the biography George W. Bush wrote about his father, 41) or Kate Andersen Brower's The Residence or First Women, or Jon Meacham's biography of George H.W. Bush, Destiny and Power, only the later chapters will be new to you. There wasn't a lot here that was news to the seasoned Bush family reader, but then, not all of you are the Bush family buff that I am. There were two things that make this book different. First, the author inserts herself into the narrative. This is so unusual in biographies, but it never really bothered me. Instead, it gave the book an intimacy I rather liked. Second, the book, though authorized by Barbara Bush and overall flattering to her, was a balanced look at the first lady. It didn't gush, nor did it tear down Mrs. Bush. If you're looking for a strong, fair, approachable, book about a contemporary first lady, I don't think you'll be disappointed. My rating: 4.5 stars.
When in doubt when it comes to your reading, try a biography. Biographies and memoirs always center me and get me back on the reading track if I'm having trouble settling into books or dealing with "monkey brain." I started the month out reading Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, but after seeing how slow my progress was, I switched to audio. This is a full biography of the world-famous golfer, the man who broke golf records as the youngest man and the first African-American man to do any number of things. His abilities were legendary, his lack of fear on the tournament course phenomenal, his ability to focus exceptional. He started golfing at age two and due to his love of practice (he loved to practice as a boy and teen more than he liked to play), gave him so many hours of skills practice that his strength and precision were remarkable. People fell in love with him. But the book tells a different tale of Tiger Woods. In the book, coaches, friends, and other players paint him as indifferent, ungracious, vulgar, and dishonest. It paints his father as even worse. The way they treated other people, the way his father touted Tiger as the next Messiah, the times they used the race card for personal gain, the way both men lied about and made up horrific events to gain sympathy, made them seem slimy and detestable. The tone of the book bothered me. No doubt, many of the moments described happened as described, and some can be interpreted in no other way, but I often felt the book was likely being too hard on him. It's an unflattering portrait, to be sure, and at times I wondered if it was a hit piece. Adding to the feel of the book was the fact that Tiger apparently values loyalty to such a degree that family, friends, and staff were forbidden from talking to journalists. In other words, the only people who would give interviews for the book weren't still on particularly good terms with the golfer and had mostly negative stories to tell. So I did often wonder how fair the book was. The book takes us through Tiger's childhood, university days, and pro years, through his humiliating fall from grace, his time in a sex addiction rehab clinic, and to his very recent rebuilding of his game and image. I'm not sure what to think about Tiger as a man, but as a golfer, he was unequaled, and I think that's enough. Don't read this book if you have a sterling image of Tiger you want to keep untarnished, and if you do read it, perhaps read it with a grain of salt. My rating: 4 stars.
Years ago, I eagerly awaited every episode of a show called Sarah's House, where design guru Sarah Richardson and her gregarious homosexual sidekick Tommy recreated a home room by room, a house that was, apparently, really Sarah's house. Richardson was so charismatic and funny, and so talented, I ate that show up. I loved every room in that house, and I would have moved in in a heart beat. But it didn't last long. So I turned to her books. I read her Sarah Style (2014) and was so disappointed (though I don't remember exactly why) I redoubled my efforts to find old episodes of the show. No luck. I would have given anything to see those rooms again. When her 2015 book At Home came out, I put it on my TBR, but I was so disappointed in the first book, I never sought out a copy until I recently checked it out from the local library. And you know what? This book is easily in my top five favorite decorating books. And you know what else? It contains photos of the Sarah's House rooms I fell in so in love with years ago! And you know what else? I still love those rooms as much as I did then. This was serendipity, and I'm so happy I gave the book a chance. It surprised and delighted me. The book shows several of the homes she's lived in, each with a different design style (modern city, country, lake vacation, and even her mother's home in a converted church). Even when the design of the space isn't something I would feel comfortable living in, I still find each space masterfully done. She's about my favorite designer, and I just loved this book so much. My rating: 5 stars.
I love a good, spunky heroine in a storybook, and I'm not sure there's one I like more than Clementine. In book six of the series, Clementine and the Spring Trip, Clementine is preparing for her third grade spring trip to Plimoth Plantation. This involves a ride on Bus 7 with its horrific "cloud" of stink that no one can quite locate and the need to pack a noiseless lunch because fourth graders have a rule against third graders crunching, slurping, and "snicking" while eating. Also, Clementine's family is still awaiting the arrival of her new brother or sister (but it doesn't happen in this book). I love each of these hilarious books, and I'll be sad when I get to the end of the series. But that just means I'll be able to start all over again. My rating: 4 stars.
Next up:
Some baseball sounds good to me right now.
My nightly reads:
Since I finished two of my night reads last week, I added another to the mix: Furnishing Forward, a decorating book re-read that I found particularly inspiring the first time I read it.
My audiobook:
I wasn't sure I liked this at first, but I've really gotten into it.
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