Other Women's Stories: What I'm reading this week (9/30/19)

Last week I finished:

I love good narrative nonfiction, as you know, but engaging and interesting (i.e. non-boring) nonfiction is hard to come by. That's why I'm so excited when I stumble upon something great. The Romanov Sisters has been on my TBR for years, and I finally decided to try it on audio. Glad I did. This was one of the more engaging nonfiction titles I've read this year. Helen Rappaport, who has written a number of books about the Romanov family, paints a picture of the four Romanov sisters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, the daughters of the last Russian emperor, forced to abdicate in 1917. You no doubt know that things do not end well for family Romanov. I had feared that the intimate way in which the book was told would mean an intimacy with the girls' terrible end, but the "end" was handled swiftly and without grisly detail. There must exist an abundance of source material in the form of letters and diaries, because Rappaport was able to paint a full picture of the sisters, their parents and brother, and their lives in the palace and in exile. I do wish the author had gone more deeply into the Russian Revolution as this is a part of history I don't remember well from school--if I studied it at all. More context would have helped. Regardless, the book was well-written, interesting, with no slow spots, and apparently well researched. This was a surprise hit for me, and I recommend it to those who love history. My rating: 4.5 stars.

I love reading books about presidents and first ladies. I always end up learning something new. Some, of course, are better than others, and unfortunately, Lady in Red: An Intimate Portrait of Nancy Reagan falls into the latter category. My expectations weren't particularly high, as I've found Nancy Reagan, while an interesting person, is generally not interesting enough for a whole book. Author Sheila Tate was Mrs. Reagan's press secretary from 1981 to 1985, so she spent a great deal of time with her and has a number of stories about her. Tate was very fond of Mrs. Reagan, and the book is a gushing tribute to that fondness. It is not very well written, and at times it just seemed like it mirrored the chapters in Mrs. Reagan's memoir, covering the same ground, the same stories, the same media dust-ups, and the same grievances and high points. The nail in the coffin of this book for me, though, was the distinct whiff of self-serving. Tate didn't want to write a book about Nancy Reagan as much as she wanted to write a book about her brief years with Mrs. Reagan. She doesn't really say why she left after only one term, and she assures her readers that Mrs. Reagan would have wanted her to write this book, but since it offered no information Nancy's book didn't back in 1989, I really don't see the point other than to make money off of a recently passed first lady. She conducted interviews, but instead of using the anecdotes woven into the narrative, she just plunked them all down in a chapter and gave bland, off-hand introductions and the entirety of that staffer's reminiscence. Most of the stories were rather uninteresting and poorly told. Had it been written as Tate's memoir or had it been better written, I wouldn't have so many complaints. As it was, it left a bad taste in my mouth. My rating: 3 stars. (For a Reagan staffer book well worth your time, try Movie Nights with the Reagans. My review here.)

This is my second time through Michael Perry's Visiting Tom, and it was as good as I remember. I miss my late father most in September, and while I didn't plan to re-read this book for that reason, it was a nice coincidence that I would schedule a book for September that reminds me so much of him. This is Perry's memoir of rural life and also a biography of his neighbor, Tom, who is a man's man, someone who can fix anything for anybody, who builds things like cannons and portable sawmills, and who enjoys telling good stories and bad jokes. One of the threads running through the book is the building of the interstate through Tom's property in the 1960s and the recent changes made to the hill road Perry lives on, both creating issues unique to rural life. It's a book that's hard to pigeonhole. What is it about, really? I read it as a true story about rural men, men who can fix anything out of necessity or pride or both, men who deal with modernization and forced-upon-them "improvement" in their own practical ways, men who are sentimental for the past but forge a way into the future nonetheless. I love books about rural lives and the dichotomy of tradition vs. progress, and this one presents both themes. It's not a book for everyone as it may not interest a city dweller with no ties to country life, but to me it's the biography of a breed of man like my father and uncles. And I'll always be ready to pick it up when I miss him most. My rating: 4 stars.

(Read my first review of the book here.)

Shepherds Abiding is the eighth book in Jan Karon's Mitford series. Set in the months leading up to Christmastime, in this installment Father Tim takes on the task of refurbishing a large nativity set for Cynthia for Christmas; Hope, from the Happy Endings bookstore, must make a decision about her future; Lou Boyd has a hard time keeping his marriage a secret; the Mitford Grille closes its doors; Esther Bollig figures the price of baking one of her orange marmalade cakes (the recipe, at long last, is included); and there's a snowman building contest. It's a nice feel-good book, and I enjoyed it. This is a series best read in order, and the audios, narrated by John McDonough, are wonderful. I personally listen to the books because I love McDonough's voice so much, especially when he sings the hymns. My rating: 4 stars.

This week I'll be reading: