Other Women's Stories: What I'm reading this week (9/2/19)

Well, I had another very successful Readcation, which means a lot of books were finished and a lot of reviews need to be written. I hope to keep it brief, but once I get going...

Last week I finished:

Having read dozens of books about the Kennedy family, I had yet to read a biography about Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President and Jacqueline Kennedy. Someday I hope she writes a memoir; she's on my top five I-hope-they-write-memoirs list (number one on the list: Oprah). Christopher Andersen has written several books about the family, and I'm working my way through them. The Good Son (see my review here) about JFK Jr. and his relationship with his mother, was an excellent book, and so was Sweet Caroline. Although Andersen did not talk to Caroline, and one wonders just how close he got to his subject, he did a good job outlining her life, describing her personality using specific moments in time, and bringing us up to date (well, the book was written in 2003, so that's relative) with her current projects. I saw Caroline while she was stumping with her uncle Ted Kennedy for Al Gore in 2000. At the time, not long after JFK Jr.'s death, she looked like a frail ghost. She was surrounded by so much detail one could not get close at all, and it was obvious she was being kept off limits. The amount of tragedy and sadness she has endured is heartbreaking. Still, she has the resilience of one who was meant to change the world because of her birth name. This was a good biography, and I recommend it. My rating: 4 stars.

I was intrigued by The Orphan of Salt Winds when it came out in January, and I finally listened to it last week. This is the story of an orphan who is adopted by a couple who live at Salt Winds, marshland in England, at the time of World War II. It moves back and forth in time between WWII and the present when the adopted daughter is and old woman, still living at Salt Winds (as the description says, she's "haunted by the place she calls home"). In the present day, a descendant of the family intertwined with her own, appears, and I tend to really dislike the play of past and present, old and young. It's overdone and cliched, but based on the proliferation of these books, I guess I'm in the minority. This is a moody book, and it has some tense moments. I'm unsure if I understand exactly what happened at the end and if certain parts of the book were even necessary, but I guess I have to attribute that to my inability to listen closely though the whole book. I did enjoy the writing a lot, so any issues I had with plotting didn't seem to matter much. Still, I plan to re-read the book some day to see if I can make sense of what I missed. I'd recommend this one if you're looking for a moody cold-weather book. It really sets a mood. My rating: 4 stars.

I've read three Max Lucado books now (and I'll never run out, he has written dozens of them), and I have a feeling Cure for the Common Life will always be one of my favorites. Lucado writes Christian lifestyle books that are nothing but positive. He doesn't use guilt or shame or chastising or sermonizing to bring folks to the (or back to the) fold of Christ. He starts you where you are, which is where I'm positive Christ meets you. In this book, he talks to the need in all of us to "use your uniqueness to make a big deal out of God every day of your life." In essence, the book helps you to determine the (God-given) talents you have and how to use them for God's glory. And we're not talking just ministry or good deeds work. We're talking mechanic and librarian and mother. It's part sweet spot primer and part workbook. I didn't write out the exercises because I'm sort of a rebel when it comes to books with homework, but I did some time thinking about my sweet spot and how it illuminates the One God. I do feel that I didn't come away from the book with a clear sense of what he means when he talks about "making a bid deal of God." I didn't take him to mean that your workplace is a place to minister to others, to evangelize (if he does, he's never been to a liberal arts university to see the backlash of such a feat). I think it's more of the "whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." At any rate, I took a lot away from this book. I sometimes wonder if I am where I'm meant to be in my job. Some parts of it fit so well, others have never been and may never be, a good fit. It's a book that came to me at the right time. As I begin my twenty-second year at the university, it's a good reminder of who my true Employer is. My rating: 4 stars.

I mentioned last week that I was inadvertently reading Hyperbole and a Half. I did stick with it and finished it, though it definitely wasn't my favorite kind of book. I try graphic novels from time to time to try to get used to the medium, but I still prefer for words to tell the story rather than pictures. And the pictures in this book made me feel...icky. The main character (the "I") of the book is a grotesque, twisted homely human-like creature, but the other characters have human features. It's unsettling. The stories themselves are dark and heavy. I didn't find the book particularly funny, which isn't to say it's not funny, just to say it wasn't funny to me. I felt like I was slogging through a cry for help, and I was so happy to be done with it. I know others find the book hilarious and get a great deal out of the parts that deal with her depression. This was not quite the way I've experienced depression in the past, so I couldn't always relate, but I do appreciate that others can. So, I chalk this one up to "it's not you, it's me" and I move on. My rating: 3 stars.

A couple of years ago I read Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good for the first time, and I fell in love with it. This is sort of a prequel memoir to Kathleen Flinn's The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, in which she writes about growing up the youngest of five in Michigan. For much of her life, her parents were paying off a venture-gone-wrong, so they lived on a farm and close to the earth. In later years, there was more money, and the family moved to a modern suburb, and the reader, at least this reader, misses the homemade bread and filled canning jars and homemade meals. The subtitle says it all: A Memoir of Food & Love from an American Midwest Family. This book more than any other I can think of mirrors my childhood. My previous review of the book does a better job than I can do here. If you like books about strong families and food, give it a shot. I think you'll like it. My rating: 5 stars.

One of my favorite Christmas movies (right up there with Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) is Christmas with the Kranks. The movie is based on a book by John Grisham called Skipping Christmas. Perhaps August was an odd time of year to listen to the book, but I just couldn't resist when I found out our library system had a copy. It's a short book (just 4 CDs), and the movie is quite close to the book. The more outrageous parts of the movie are from Hollywood instead of coming from the book, but I pretty much expected that. I'm unsure if I can be objective about the book because I've seen the movie so many times that when I listened to the book, I just saw the movie in my head. Does the book stand on its own? I'm not sure, but I think so. The story, if you're unfamiliar with it, is this: Luther and Nora Krank are about to spend their first Christmas without their daughter, Blair. It won't be the same, and Luther gets the great idea to "skip Christmas" and take his wife on a cruise instead. That means no presents, no tree, no decorating, no cards, no work holiday parties, and they won't be hosting their Christmas Eve neighborhood party. But when Blair calls to tell them she'll be home for Christmas afterall, the neighborhood has to set aside its grudge with the Kranks' lack of holiday spirit to pull off the annual Christmas Eve party just in time for Blair's arrival. It's funny and heartwarming (though the movie is funnier, because Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis). I think I'll buy a copy of this a circle back to it periodically. It just makes me happy. My rating: 4 stars.

Many years ago I discovered the poet Bob Hicok just as he was debuting. He's since written a number of books of poetry, and I've only read a few of them, but he remains a touchstone for me as he's one of first poets I discovered beyond college (i.e. on my own). His work is by turns funny and intense, and his topics are all over the map. I really enjoy it. It's been a number of years since I've read a new book of his poetry (I reviewed a re-read of Plus Shipping last year), so I was happy to read his newest, Hold. I found this very similar to his early work, but I could have done without the social justice rant-y poems. I so dislike when poetry because a vehicle for politics, and it often does. Still, a strong collection by one of the most gifted poets of the day. I recommend his work. My rating: 4 stars.

I'll be finishing this one soon: