Four Stars

Best for: Those interested in a fun (but surprisingly serious) look at how the sausage is made.

In a nutshell: Comedy writer turned senator provides the story of how he got where he is, and what it really means to be a U.S. Senator.

Line that sticks with me: “They’re all extremely conservative Republicans who I’m sure don’t want me to say anything good about them. And make no mistake, I hope they get beat in their next elections. But they’re there right now! And just as part of my job is standing my ground against all the terrible hings they want to do, part of it is looking for opportunities to find common ground, because that’s how stuff gets done.” (p284)

Why I chose it: I’ve read most (maybe all?) of Sen. Franken’s books, and this one called my name from the airport bookstore.

Review: If you like Al Franken, then you’ll like this book. If you don’t, you still might like this. However, if you are looking for nothing more than revolution against all members of the GOP, then you might find Sen. Franken’s pragmatism unforgivable.

Sen. Franken spends nearly half of the book sharing how he got to be a senator. He talks (briefly) about his days working at Saturday Night Live, but spends a lot of time talking about how he came to the idea of running for office, his first race for senate, and then the recount. Man, I forgot about that one.

As interesting and pithy as that half of the book is, the fascinating stuff comes in the second half, when he’s in the senate. Hearing his perspective on why he works with some of these people that those of us on the outside despise is … almost convincing. Of course, he acknowledges that he’s a white guy working in politics, but I think he doesn’t necessarily give enough credence to the fact that as a white guy, he has more wiggle room and is probably seen as less threatening to some Republicans than others.

At the same time, though, I appreciated reading his perspective on his job, and why he loves it, and what it really means to be a U.S. Senator. How you don’t always get your way. How you need to think about the people you represent (in his case, Minnesotans), but also about your own morals.

He started writing this book in earnest in November, and was working on it well into this year, to the point where he can talk about his experience with the Trump administration and his cabinet appointees. He’s as pissed as we are, and he uses the last couple of chapters to both encourage us all to fight back, and to tell the story of a young woman who represents all that is good in the US.

It’s an interesting look at our government that left me a little more hopeful.

Three Stars

Best for: People who enjoy pop culture analysis that is serious but not too serious.

In a nutshell: Film critic explores some of the top movies of the 1980s, focusing on what made them good and why we don’t see them anymore.

Line that sticks with me: “Nineties teen makeover scenes are all about stamping out a teenage girl’s awkwardness and unique personality, whereas the girls in the eighties teen movies celebrate those two qualities.” (p76)

Why I chose it: Book club!

Review: First, thank you everyone who voted for this as our CBR book club pick. It’s pretty much made for me: nonfiction, essays, humor, pop culture, written by a woman. Huzzah!

I haven’t read any of the other reviews of this so I might be repeating other folks, but I wanted to go into without any preconceptions. And overall, I enjoyed so much of it. I appreciate the author’s honesty about her feelings about the films, and the fact that she didn’t remove herself from the analysis. It’s apparent — and she acknowledges — that much of what she has to say is based o personal taste, yet she’s able to back up her assertions.

So instead of focusing on the good (and there is so much — especially her analysis of teenagers and teenage girls specifically, and the overall way these films tackle sexism), I wanted to share a couple of things that bothered me, and they are intertwined: the discussion of race (or lack thereof) throughout, and the Eddie Murphy chapter, where Ms. Freeman seems to put much of the discussion of race.

Ms. Freeman spends so much time providing good critical discussion about the depiction of women in film (ten of the eleven chapters, while not each focused on gender issues, at least touches on it), but she glosses over racism in nearly every other one. She does mention the issue in the chapter on Ghostbusters, and sort of makes an attempt and looking at it when talking about John Hughes, but mostly she seems to just be making excuses for filmmakers.

But any movie set in NYC that she discusses, for example, should at least be questioned if there aren’t any non-white characters (When Harry Met Sally … I’m looking at you. And I love you, but that’s a pretty white NYC). And sure, John Hughes may not be able to speak personally on the experience of a person of color, but perhaps he could seek to include at least a couple of non-white, non-stereotypes characters?

And then there’s the Eddie Murphy movies chapter. Ooof. Just not great. And I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about it, but it feels ironic to have nearly the entire discussion about race shoehorned into a single chapter. A chapter with the subheading “Race Can Be Transcended.” Oh Ms. Freeman, no. Just…no. You would have benefited from a sensitivity reader here (of course I’m assuming she didn’t have one, but I could be wrong). Or perhaps just a read over of this article.

Because of that, this otherwise four-star book gets three stars from me.

Four Stars

Best for: Fans of decent memoir writing.

In a nutshell: Comedian and political commentator offers some insight into his perspective on life.

Line that sticks with me: “If there’s one thing that I learned from both of my parents, it is that you don’t need the paper to get the information.” (p33)

Why I chose it: The cover and subtitle (”Tales of a 6’4”, African-American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian”)

Review: I’m trying to figure out the best way to describe this book and my reaction to it. It was a nice, fun (thought not especially funny – which I think was the point), fairly quick read. It offered insight into Mr. Bell’s life. It tackled topics like race and sexism in a nuanced and clever way. But it didn’t leave me raving. It was like a perfectly fine dinner at a decent restaurant. Not going down in the top five meals (or books), but also not necessitating that I warn off others from experiencing it.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some rough parts – this isn’t a fluffy book. He tells some sweet stories, but also some challenging ones. Like his experiences being a Black star of a show dealing with heady topics like interviewing the KKK with a white showrunner who doesn’t really get it. Or his honesty in recognizing that some of his jokes, while spot on in the racial commentary category, were missing it with some thinly veiled (and unintentional) misogyny.

I also appreciate that, while I believe that books like this are often turned in pretty far in advance of their publication, I’m guessing he either edited or added some things to address the 2016 election.

Mr. Bell is a talented writer, and I enjoyed the stories he chose to tell. I would recommend this as a library book read for sure, or maybe pick it up when it’s available in paperback. I think if you enjoy memoirs, this is a good one to add to your list, especially if you want something refreshing and honest but not annoyingly self-deprecating.

Two Stars

Best for: I can’t think of a reader I’d recommend this to.

In a nutshell: Life Coach re-purposes classic self-help book recommendations into multiple short chapters that say very little that is new or original. Also, she swears.

Line that sticks with me: None.

Why I chose it: Embarrassingly, the “Badass” in the title drew me in.

Review: From a quick CBR search, it appears I might be the only person to have reviewed this book so far. Good. If this is in your TBR pile, I recommend returning it, as your time is more valuable than this.

As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I’ve read many a personal growth / self-help book, and can usually find something to like in them. And I have to say that for a couple of pages, I was into this book. Mostly because I appreciated that the author said fuck a lot.

But then it became apparently to me that the author has read a lot of books on personal growth, and this is just a rearranging and distilling of the some of the genre’s greatest hits. I’ve never read “The Secret,” but fuck if this doesn’t read like what I understand to be the main thesis of that book. I just cannot take seriously anyone who says things like (direct from page 33) “In order to truly raise your vibration, you’ve got to believe that everything you want is available to you. And the best way to keep this belief strong is by staying connected to Source Energy.”

I’m sorry. Did I just wander into a Scientology seminar?

Also, Ms. Sincero seems to think that capitalizing a couple of nouns makes them something real. Source Energy is not a thing. Stop trying to make Source Energy happen, Gretchen. It’s not. Going. To happen.

I have to admit that I was turned off just pages in because this books seems to take a page out of Alcholics Anonymous: I have to believe in some “higher power.” Nopety nope nope. And that’s not to say that one shouldn’t believe in a higher power, or that I’m not super wrong in my lack of belief, or that it can’t play a role in this type of book, but I wish there had been some mention of this requirement on the back cover, because that would have let me know this book definitely was not for me, and saved me the time and money and Ms. Sincero this review.

There are like a million chapters, and each one is distilled down to a list, as though Buzzfeed decided to write a book based off of its early, less well-edited work.

Also, at one point the author talks about her life-changing visit to India. (She’s white. I know, you’re shocked.) White women (and men)? Can we please collectively agree to stop putting these types of things passages in books? No problem with traveling the world and learning about different cultures, but maybe keep it in your travel journal.

There’s a sort of odd recurring theme of money, as though that should definitely be a primary motivating factor. I know that we all have bills to pay and that we live in a society where money still matters, but I didn’t realize I’d picked up a ‘make money now!’ book. Sadly, that’s on me, because the line on the back cover is right there: “Make some damn money already. The kind you’ve never made before.” That should have been sufficient for me to put this back on the shelf, but alas, I missed it.

I can’t with this. This book isn’t one-star bad, but I’m having a really hard time thinking of someone I’d recommend it to, because if a person really is interested in finding good ways to make changes in their lives, I want better for them than this cobbled together treatise that seems to think that if we just wish hard upon a star and Stuart Smalley ourselves, then everything will fall into place.

Five Stars

Best for: Anyone who enjoys a great collection of essays.

In a nutshell: Samantha Irby shares stories from her life that are at times so funny you’ll stop someone on the street to read a passage just so they can share in your joy.

Line that sticks with me: “No one ever tells attractive children how much they suck, and then the rest of us get stuck with insufferable, narcissistic adults who can barely tie their shoes because someone else is busy either doing it for them or congratulating them on their effort.”

Why I chose it: The cover. Seriously, look at it.

Review: I’m writing this review fewer than 24 hours after buying this book. I read it all evening on the walk to an event this morning, on two bus rides, and wile I inhaled my lunch. I kept yelling out passages to my husband, who kindly paused his video game and then found himself laughing along with me.

I’m late to the Samantha Irby game; this is her second collection of essays. But oh my god it is brilliant. There are parts of her life I can relate to (like just wanting to stay inside and not interact with others) and parts I can’t (like her experiences growing up) but I found myself riveted by every single essay.

I don’t want to spoil it for you, but there is an essay about the start of her relationship with her now-wife that I was not expecting but that was candid and hilarious and real. This is one of my favorites of the year for sure, and will likely get many re-reads in the years ahead.

Three Stars

Best for: Philosophers who will have a chance to discuss the contents.

In a nutshell: Bioethicist and doctor compiles essays addressing how we die and if there is a way to revive the art of dying well.

Line that sticks with me: “We can’t talk about the art of dying without first accepting that we will die.” (p 174)

Why I chose it: A lot of folks who are dear to people who are dear to me have died over these past 18 months, so I decided to get philosophical on it and picked this out.

Review: This collection of essays seeks to answer the question of what role bioethics has in helping people ‘die well.’ This doesn’t mean people dying in a way that is convenient for others, but in a way that allows someone to make some sense of peace with the reality of their death and the life they have lived.

Some of the essays look at how death has been handled in the past, with ceremony and ritual. We still see some of that today, especially after the fact, with certain religious funeral services. But how much of what death means today involves things other than ‘extraordinary measures’ in a hospital room? One of the essays explores the concept of hospice and palliative care, examining whether the way it is practiced now allows people to be as present as they would like to be as they experience the end of their life.

Other topics explored are how far we should be going to extend lives. Just because a life can be extended, should it be? One author specifically argues that we shouldn’t require people to live beyond what they could have expected before medical technology took off in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s interesting to contemplate for sure.

One essay that the editor chose to include frustrated me to no end, as it took the position that the Catholic hospitals and health care practices are the best for compassionate care while examining the issue of end-of-life-care. I live in a state where many private hospitals are being purchased by Catholic ones, and these facilities have been shown to repeatedly cross the line when it comes to making the ‘death with dignity’ options known to their patients, not to mention the horror stories of women denied proper reproductive health care because abortion. I fully recognize the very important role that religion plays in death for so many people, so I’m not suggesting that the Catholic piece is what made this a bad essay; it was jut so ironically ignorant that I remain baffled at its inclusion in an otherwise fin collection.

If you are interested in this topic, I think this is a fine book to read. However, I would urge you to find a fellow reader so that you have someone to talk about each essay with. Some works can be fully absorbed and process internally (although you might want to tell the world about it, you don’t need to in order to really understand it); this book requires some internal and external reflection to really get the most from it.

Four Stars

Best for: Those looking for a quick introduction to prison abolition.

In a nutshell: Scholar Angela Y. Davis provides, through six dense chapters, an overview of the problem with prison as the default response to crime, and urges us to consider alternatives.

Line that sticks with me: “A description of supermaxes in a 1997 Human Rights Watch report sounds chillingly like Dicken’s description of Eastern State Penitentiary. What is different, however, is that all references to individual rehabilitation have disappeared.”

Why I chose it: I’m still trying to learn more about prison abolition.

Review: This is a relatively short book at 115 pages, but Dr. Davis packs so much information into it. She provides a good background of how we got to this point in the U.S., where we have 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the worlds prisoners. She addresses the evolution from slavery to chain gangs (a concept that will be familiar to those of you who’ve watched “13th”), and looks at the way prison impacts people of color more than white people.

The book also delves into the prison-industrial complex, and how so much of our economy is tied up in the idea of incarceration. From private prisons that rely on keeping people incarcerated to make money, to the government-run institutions that make large purchases from multi-national corporations, prisons make bank on the backs of those most without power.

The final chapter brings into focus the theme that runs throughout: that we need to think about prison in a different way. Why do we assume that prison is necessary? Because we’ve grown up with it. It’s ingrained in our culture. But it isn’t helping the people in our society, so we need to radically change how we think about it. As in other books on prison, this section still leaves me with questions, but I’m getting there.

Four Stars

Best for: People who like a good memoir.

In a nutshell: Actress / director Gabourey Sidibe share stories from her life, from youth through Precious and beyond.

Line that sticks with me: “I’m struggling to find the healthy balance between food, feelings, and actual hunger while people on social-media sites continue to make fun of me. Meh. Fuck ’em. I’m prettier than they are anyway.”

Why I chose it: I know very little about Ms. Sidibe, and also I love a good memoir.

Review: If you know who Ms. Sidibe is, it’s probably because you saw her in Precious, or you watch her in Empire or American Horror Story. She’s fantastic on Twitter, and seems to have a confidence about her that I dream of having. Her book gives us insight into her life, and how she got to where she is now.

A few things stood out to me. One is a bit of a parallel between her life and Anna Kendrik’s in that they both were in movies that were clearly going to be wildly successful and people thought of them as rich and famous when in reality they were still quite broke. Another is how Ms. Sidibe is able to explain, without sounding like an ass, some of the troubles she faces now that she has a successful acting career.

The sections I found to be most interesting, however, were the ones where she talked about her relationships with her family and her attempts to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. The story of her parents’ relationship with each other, her living situation, her attempts to figure out how she could be her healthiest, all let the reader in to knowing this person better. I’ve read some memoirs that seem to linger about an inch below the surface; Ms. Sidibe makes the reader think we’ve gone to the Marianas Trench with her. It’s possible she’s holding back; either way that’s some masterful storytelling.

The book ends a bit abruptly, but near the end, as she talks about why she chose the write the book, I was reminded of how the exercise of autobiographical writing — whether for millions or just yourself — can be illuminating and cathartic. I know some view ‘celebrity’ memoirs as cash grabs or narcissism, and I’m sure some are, but ones like this feel organic and honest, which is what I’m looking for.

Four Stars

Best for: Anyone looking for a profile of an interesting man doing something unthinkable to most of us.

In a nutshell: Man lives alone in the woods for nearly three decades, uttering words to only one person. Gets arrested.

Line that sticks with me: “He parked the car and put the keys on the center console. He had a tent and a backpack but no compass, no map. Without knowing where he was going, with no particular place in mind, he stepped into the trees and walked away.” (p 77)

Why I chose it: NPR.

Review: Christopher Knight was 20 years old when he abandoned his car and walked deep into a forest in Maine. He was 57 when arrested for breaking into a camp to steal food. This is the story of the 27 years in between, a bit of what came first, and more of what came next.

Author Michael Finkel has written a book before; you might recognize his name from his being fired for essentially making up a story (he says he combined a bunch of people to make a composite without saying so). I was not familiar with that background, but even knowing that, I believe what he is sharing in this profile of Christopher Knight, aka the Hermit. Over 27 years, Mr. Knight lived just a few minutes from other people, but was so fully hidden and so committed to being alone that the only person who saw him for nearly 25 years was a hiker he accidentally crossed paths with.

This story is fascinating to me. On the one hand, this man desperately wanted to be alone, to be away from everyone else, ideally for the rest of his life. But he didn’t choose the strict survivalist route: he stole. And although he followed a strict code when stealing from others, never taking anything that appeared valuable, always going into what he thought were empty houses, for nearly three decades some families were terrified that this burglar would come into their home (and he often did repeatedly) when they were there.

Mr. Finkel does a great job telling this story, about a person it can be difficult to understand. He also provides some background and context to the idea of a hermit – people who leave all of society for years at a time, if not longer. He also provides room for all of us to contemplate what happens when someone like Mr. Knight is forced back into society. Is there space in this world for someone who wants to be all alone, forever? Should there be?

Five Stars

Best for: Anyone looking for a riveting read.

In a nutshell: 16-year-old Starr Carter is in the car when her friend is killed by a police officer.

Line that sticks with me: “Claim folks need to act peaceful, but rolling through here like we in a goddamn war.” (pg 211)

Why I chose it: I’ve been hearing loads of people talk about it.

Review: Holy shit. 444 pages. Started yesterday morning on the walk to work, finished it this morning on the walk to work. I wanted to read it everywhere, and was mildly annoyed that my job got in the way.

This young adult book masterfully covers about a million different topics, and covers them well. What’s it like to be one of the only Black students in a private white high school? What is it like to have rival gangs in your neighborhood? What is it like to have to navigate who you are depending on the company you are around? What is it like for a Black teen to date a white teen? How do you handle it when you see your friend shot and killed in front of you? Do protests work? What purpose do they serve, especially when they can damage those who are already so hurt?

There’s so much to discover in this book, and so many layers. Starr is a well-developed heroine, but so are all of the supporting characters. From her two brothers, to her friends at school to her friends in her neighborhood, her uncle who is also a cop. Everyone has depth and serves their own purpose, not just Starr’s.

I think I was most impressed with two parts: the evolution of Starr’s relationships with her school and neighborhood friends, and the handling of Starr’s sharing the story of that night. I don’t want to give too much away, but Ms. Thomas does a fantastic job of illustrating why people might act in a way that we think we wouldn’t unless faced with that situation.

I loved this book. Loved it.