Thursday, February 28, 2019

Review: Becoming

Becoming Becoming by Michelle Obama
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Michelle Obama.

It was terrific; and like I had a friend in the car, talking, telling stories.

Part of it was Michelle herself telling the story. And part of it is that I'm just a couple of years younger than Michelle Obama, and while some of our paths are obviously different (I am not first lady, lol), I was in college and law school during the times she was (but not at as good as schools as she was at.) And, like her, I had the realization that law as a profession was not for me, so what next?

This is more memoir than autobiography, so I'm sure some readers would want more about x, y, or z. And it stops just as she leaves the White House.

It makes me miss the Obamas.

Highly recommended.









View all my reviews

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Review: Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World

Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World by Alison Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At some point, I'll do a better job of reading history in order, instead of jumping around in time.

Non-fiction about the Elizabeth of York: daughter of Edward IV, sister of Edward V, wife of Henry VII, mother of Henry VIII. Who, by all rights, should have been Queen in her own right after the deaths of her brothers, but was instead the wife of the victor, Henry VII. And, as Weir explains, Henry VII took great pains to make it clear that he was ruler as himself.

It appears that Elizabeth was content with her role as a queen defined by being wife-of-king. Had that not been the case, the queens Elizabeth would have been II and III, because she would have been viewed as Elizabeth I. (That is me, not something Weir talks about it.) It's interesting how generations change things, even in the past, because Elizabeth was the grandmother and great grandmother of Queens in their own name: Mary I, Elizabeth, and Mary Queen of Scots. (And of course Lady Jane Grey.)

This is an interesting look at the fullness of Elizabeth's life, which is usually not really given much thought because, well, she was an 'of' instead -- daughter of, sister of, wife of, mother of. This gives her back some of her own uniqueness, her own self.















View all my reviews

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Review: The Bargaining

The Bargaining The Bargaining by Carly Anne West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Penny is sent to live with her father, stepmother, and stepbrother.

She ends up spending the summer with her stepmother, as her mother works on flipping an old house in the woods near a small town.

Bad things have happened in that house, in those woods; the locals give them problems; her stepmother is frantic not to lose her investment.

This as a good, scary, haunted house book. The two things I liked best about it: Penny, who is very real in how she handles herself and the situation, neither too brave nor too timid. And, that while there is a local cute guy, this is not a romance, there is no real romance.

I'm so over every book having to also have a romance in it. Can't it just be a scary book (or a mystery or whatever.)

So this: four stars because scary and no romance.









View all my reviews

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Review: Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs

Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs by John Bloom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I remember watching a made for TV movie inspired by this years ago.

Short version: Early 1980s Texas. One church-going housewife murders another, in a pretty violent, nasty way. Why? And, how does her community respond?

This is old (a reissue), and it works in that the time period being depicted is shown "in the moment," rather than with a historical distance. But, that is also a flaw, because I would have liked more distance: more judgment, more post-crime information on the key players, more analysis that only time can give. And, in a way, less judgment -- the women were judged for what they did or not do with their lives and their marriages, and while those were the judgments of the time, today, there would have been more sympathy, in some places; and less in others.

But if you like true crime, it's a quick read; and it's easy enough to do a google search to find out what happened to the survivors after.





View all my reviews