Other Women's Stories: What I'm reading this week (6/10/19)

Last week I finished:

Last fall, I read James Patterson's thriller, The President Is Missing (my review here). It was the first book I'd read by Patterson, and while I didn't find it flawless, I did find it enjoyable. Plus, I'll give most anything a try if it's about presidents. So when Patterson recently came out with The First Lady, I thought I'd give it a try and put myself in the audio queue at the public library. I'd been interested to try another Patterson thriller to see how they differ, and I have to tell you, The First Lady was almost the exact same book as The President Is Missing. And since it was my second book with basically the same plot and writing, I didn't have much fun with it. The plot is this: The president is caught by the media having an affair, and within hours, the first lady has disappeared. There are good guys and bad guys, and the reader, of course, doesn't know which is which. There are short chapters that end in cliffhangers, lots of red herrings, and more tough women than any story should have to be believable. I just didn't like this one. I didn't like the characters, and I was bored by the plot and the writing, which I'd encountered before. A good book to read on a plane flight or at the beach, maybe, but I was disappointed. My rating: 3 stars.

For months I've been wanting to read Nancy Reagan's My Turn. It came out in 1989, the year after she and President Reagan left the White House following his two terms as president. I'd read that Barbara Bush thought it was a terrible book, and I wanted to know if that was an assessment tinged by her personal feelings for Nancy Reagan or one based on the writing and presentation. After finishing the book, I have to say that I agree with Barbara Bush on this one. This book was pretty awful. It was petty and vindictive and made her look like a sniveling brat. She obviously wrote it to clear the record on a few points, but she would have come off as a much classier women if she'd have just let those things go. Having the added benefit of hindsight by reading it thirty years after it was written, I can really say much of what she wrote about just does not matter in the big picture. Several chapters (and most are at the very beginning of the book) are her rebuttal to the press coverage of her use of astrology to determine the president's schedule; her role in the firing of her husband's Chief of Staff, Don Regan; her spendy wardrobe; and her pricey redesign of the White House. I think she was just still too close to the slights to let them go, and in 1989, those things were foremost in her mind of what she wanted to address when it was "her turn." She also addresses the enormously difficult relationships she had with her four children and stepchildren, all but one of whom she was estranged from for years. Toward the end of the book is a chapter detailing her difficult relationship with Raisa Gorbachev, wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The two reportedly mixed like oil and water, and her book does not contest that. There were rather enjoyable chapters, however. Regardless of what you say about the first lady, she loved her husband. She was willing to look bad to everyone in order to be good to him. I respect that. Especially poignant were the chapters about their White House years and the assassination attempt made on the president in 1981. I also enjoyed the chapter where she took the reader through a day in the life at the White House. Overall, though, I questioned the non-chronological arrangement of the book. It seemed to have very little structure. And the tone of the book, again, made Mrs. Reagan out to be a very high-strung, difficult to get along with woman. And if that comes across in a memoir written, presumably, while putting one's best foot forward, perhaps she really was that way in person--an assertion I've seen countless times in print. My rating: 3 stars.

Earlier this year I loved reading Myquillyn Smith's The Nesting Place (my review here). I found it so charming and helpful. So I was eager to read her second book, released last fall, Cozy Minimalist Home. In it, she addresses the seeming oxymoron and explains how your home can be both cozy and minimalist. I was hoping for more of the same with this book, but the tone was completely different. While the first book was sort of easy-breezy and laid back, calmly guiding you to creating the home that is right for you, this one was almost hysterical in its insistence that there was only one way to arrive at cozy minimalist: her way. It was pushy and it was too overexcited about its mission. I grew to resent the tone and the bossiness almost immediately. After explaining what cozy minimalism is, she shows you step by step how to get it. First, empty the room of e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Then, things must be loaded into the room in this order: furniture, rugs, drapes, lighting, wall art, accessories. Oh, and you can only paint your walls between lighting and accessories. So yes, if you decide on green instead of blue, everything has to come back out in order to paint. Then you re-load the room. It was madness. It's undoubtedly the method that works for her, but that does not mean it's the method that will work for everyone. I really don't like decorating books that tell me there are definitive rules that you must follow in order. We have instinct for a reason, and her first book seemed to be encouraging her readers to develop it and use it. This book undoes so much of what her first book did, and I'm so disappointed about that. My rating: 3 stars.

This week I'll be reading:

It took awhile for this one to get going, but I'm loving it now.

I've put off:

I was really excited to read Elizabeth Gilbert's newest book this week, but after reading an interview with her about it, I'm not sure it's something I'd enjoy. A book about nothing but women having promiscuous sex in an effort to legitimize it just isn't in line with my beliefs on the matter.

My Kindle read: