What I'm reading this week (2/22/21)

 Last week I finished

The Lazy Genius Way, Kendra Adachi

I was seeing this book all over on book vlogs and Bookstagram, and when I looked into it, it seemed right up my alley. In it, Adachi talks about the 13 ways to be "lazy about the things that don't matter and genius about the things that do." It's an empowering book, and I found it encouraging and helpful. It's a good one for all women because you get out of it what you bring to it. You decide what matters to you, and Adachi tells you how you can more easily make time and space for it in your life. I will say, though, that the principles here are already things I do in my life. Perhaps that's due to unique insight, perhaps due to my need to organize and efficient-ize my existence, or perhaps it's what I flippantly told my husband when describing the book, "it's called being in your 40s." I think a lot of this stuff you just figure out as you go through life stages, but maybe not. At any rate, the fact that I already do these things (or the ones that make sense for my current lifestyle) takes nothing away from the book. It's a very friendly, generous, warm hug of a book, whether the principles are new to you or not. (Note: Adachi has a podcast, too, which I have not really checked out, but you might want to.) My rating: 5 stars.

Love & War, Mary Matalin and James Carville

Wow, what a ride. This politically mismatched couple is something else. Matalin worked for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and she worked on President George H. W. Bush's reelection campaign the same year that Carville was working to get President Clinton elected. I'd always thought James Carville was the crazy wildcard in this marriage, but now I wonder if he isn't the saner one--though I still disagree with most of his politics. This is a very frank look at how the couple gets along--and how it doesn't. They spent the first two years of President George W. Bush's administration not talking to each other. Carville could not let the election go, to this day saying it was stolen from Gore. Meanwhile, Matalin was working for the Bush White House! Her account of 9/11 inside the White House was riveting. But the book is not all politics. They also talk about their beloved daughters, their move from Washington to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (Carville is from Louisiana), as well as Matalin's love for creatures and Carville's loathing of the same. I enjoyed the book, but the years when they weren't speaking sent chills down my spine. If hubby and I even have a spat, I get panicky. I would never have the presence to not be talked to for months or years and live an otherwise normal life. Whew. I recommend this one. I like this quirky couple. My rating: 4 stars.  

Jackie, Janet, & Lee, J. Randy Taraborrelli

This is a re-read for me, but this time I listened to it on audio. I have to say that the audio version is not my favorite. The narrator pronounced every letter of every word, and it came off as haughty and pretentious, which isn't the tone at all with any of Taraborrelli books in print. This was still a good story, though, as it details the lives and relationships of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, her sister Lee Radziwell, and their mother Janet Auschincloss. These three would be great characters in any novel, but the stuff here is real. I recommend this one (and really anything by Taraborrelli) to anyone who wants a good well-researched story with some dirt thrown in. My rating: 4 stars. (Read my original, much more eloquent,  review here.)

This week I'll finish:

At night, I'm reading:

My audiobooks for this week:

What I'm reading this week (2/15/21)

 Last week I finished:

The Last Tudor, Philippa Gregory

I'm enjoying my delve into Philippa Gregory's vast number of royalty books (see another review here). I should probably be reading them in order, as I know so little of the history of English monarchs, their succession, and intrigue that it's hard to follow from one to the next, but I limped along here until I got it. This is the story of the last three Tudor Princesses, Jane (as in Lady Jane Grey who was on the throne for only nine days and is considered one of the first Protestant martyrs), Katherine, and Mary. The books are fascinating, full of drama (it's almost hard to believe they're based on true stories), well paced, and feel well researched. The audio versions are very good. I'd like to read (or listen to) more of these. My rating: 4 stars.

This week I'll finish:

This has been quite a ride!

And then I'll move on to this reread:

I'm looking forward to this re-read. It seems the perfect book for long, cold February days.

My nightly reads:

I think I'll finish one or both of these this week.

And I hope to begin this:

My next audiobook:

I can't decide which one sounds best right now. Tune in next week to find out what I chose!

What I'm reading this week (2/8/21)

Last week I finished: 

What Makes a Marriage Last, Marlo Thomas & Phil Donahue

I enjoyed this book. It's a long one, just over 600 pages, and it takes you through interviews with 40 famous couples. It was sometimes obvious that the couples were friends of the authors', which was kind of cute. I have lots of observations and quibbles with this book--how can you not after 600 pages--so I'll start with quibbles. Quibble one: it's not the best writing. There's a mix of interviews and explanatory paragraphs with quotes from the celebrities being interviewed, but the explanations aren't great writing and the four-way interviews are rather difficult to read. Also, I found several errors that should have been caught buy editors. Quibble two, I felt there was too much Phil & Marlo in the interviews. I know it might be natural to talk about yourself in such a situation, but I would have preferred that be edited out. Quibble three, the celebrities chosen. The couples leaned very heavily toward actors and journalists--where the authors' interests lie. I would have preferred a more diverse set of celebrities. There were very few couples from music (what about Faith Hill & Tim McGraw? Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood?, and others, too), authors (Stephen King?), comedians (Tina Fay, Jay Leno, Jim Gaffigan), celebrity cooks (Ree Drummond, Rachael Ray, Ina Garten, Guy Fieri). Also, there was a dearth of conservative couples (no Tim Allen, Dr. Ben Carson, etc.), especially couples of faith. There was almost no one from a background where marriage is a church sacrament. (Why not Candace Cameron Bure, Kirk Cameron, Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar, and some of those mega-church preachers?) Conservatives and traditionalists have a much different view of marriage than Hollywood liberals do, and this book would have benefited from a more balanced view. Last, they overcompensated on gay couples. Fully 10% of the celebrities chosen were gay, when only .003% of all US marriages are gay marriages. Two celebrities I was especially disappointed not to see in the book? Tom Hanks/Rita Wilson and Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi. So, those are my quibbles. It's quite possible they tried to get some or most of the people on my list, and they were turned down--who knows. So what surprised me about the book? First, that I knew all but one or two of the couples. I'm not a follower of pop culture, but they must have chosen well if I knew almost everyone. Clearly their names opened doors for them, and a less-known couple would not have faired as well. I was also surprised at how little overlap there was in answers between couples. They all seemed to view their marriages differently. I didn't find a lot of common themes, which just floored me. I was also surprised at how uncomfortable the book made me at points. I'd try to imagine how my husband and I (marriage almost 19 years--longer than some in the book) would have answered the questions posed and how we would have looked on the page, and sometimes I feared that we'd look terribly unhealthy. We tend to have the same arguments over and over and seem to resolve nothing. Yet, I truly believe our marriage is one of the healthiest I've ever known. Lastly, I was surprised at the questions Marlo & Phil chose to ask the couples. There was a lot of talk of how couples fight and who gets jealous and why. I have to say that if I was given ten minutes to put together a list of questions for this type of assignment, the fight one would have been an afterthought and the jealousy question never would have come up--and we've dealt with jealousy issues in our marriage! I would have asked "How do you say 'I love you' in your marriage?" I mention this because interestingly the words "I love you" only came up ONCE in the whole book. Well, I could go on and on, but this one was food for thought. I think I'll mark my favorite interviews to return to. And on that note--my favorite couple there? Hands down, Mary Matalin and James Carville. My rating: 4 stars.

Victoria, Daisy Goodwin

This is a re-listen for me, and it stood up to my original high rating. I just love this book. It's the fictionalization of Queen Victoria's first months on the throne (meant to supplement the PBS series), and it's so engaging, well-written, and fun. The audio is very well done, too, and I recommend it. My rating: 4 stars.

Paris to the Moon, Adam Gopnik

This book has been on my TBR for years, possibly for decades. I owned it at one time, but I've long since "unhauled" it. But I picked up the audio recently, which was listed as unabridged on Amazon, but the case says "unabridged excerpts," whatever that means. It didn't feel like the whole book, but what was on the CDs was good. Well, let me say that again. The first CD (of four) was just awful--verbose and almost obnoxiously pedantic, and I considered abandoning it, but the rest of the presentation was quite enjoyable. So, I don't know if I recommend this one or not. If you like memoirs about Americans living abroad or about Paris, go for it, I guess. My rating: 3 stars.

This week I'll begin:

Look what we have here! I enjoyed the interview with Mary Matalin and James Carville in What Makes a Marriage Last so much that I immediately (re)purchased their book (which I'd bought when it came out years ago, never read, and got rid of...) which came to me signed by Mary Matalin! I cannot wait to start this one.

At night, I'm reading:

I'm enjoying both of these very much. Life is much better with Billy Collins poems at the end of the day.

What I'm reading this week (2/1/21)

Last week I finished:

Big Stone Gap, Adriana Trigiani

Ya'll, this book was just not for me. I listened to the audio, read by the author. My hopes weren't particularly high, but I'm not sure it even reached those. I have nothing against "fluff" or romance, but it has to be well-written fluff or romance, and this just wasn't. I know a lot of folks love this book and the southern fiction series it starts, but count me out. My rating: 3 stars.

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire, Jen Hatmaker

This is a re-read for me. I read the book last year, and this time I listened to the audio, read by the author. I generally like Jen Hatmaker, but I'm just not into activist Christianity, and there was just too much talk of it here. There's some good advice throughout, but I found myself bored by all the secular Christianity and the lack of spiritual truth. Still, it's earnest, honest, and funny. My rating: 4 stars.

Greek to Me, Mary Norris

I recently re-read (listened to, this time), Mary Norris' Between You & Me, which I really like, and I decided to pick up her Greek to Me (the cover is so lovely), even though I'm not particularly interested in Greek culture, mythology, or language. And I decided that having that interest really is a prerequisite to enjoying this book. In generally, I was bored to tears, but I didn't realize this until I was so far in I thought I might as well finish it. If you love all things Greek, or want to learn more, this is the book for you. But if not, skip it. My rating: 2 stars.

It's Never Too Late, Kathie Lee Gifford

This is the first book I've ever read and immediately started reading again. Some of the magic wasn't there the second time around, but it's still a gem. I want my whole year to be filled with treasures like this to make me laugh and cry and stretch. 

This week I'll continue with:

 I'll be finishing this one this week. It's been quite a ride!