What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really only liked the first story, "Why Don't You Dance?"

I didn't even like the title story that much, though I did like this one quote in it: "Well, the husband was very depressed for the longest while. Even after he found out that his wife was going to pull through, he was still very depressed. Not about the accident, though. I mean, the accident was one thing, but it wasn't everything. I'd get up to his mouth-hole, you know, and he'd say no, it wasn't the accident exactly but it was because he couldn't see her through his eye-holes. He said that was what was making him feel bad. Can you imagine? I'm telling you, the man's heart was breaking because he couldn't turn his goddamn head and see his goddamn wife.'"

Took me much longer to read this collection than I expected given how short it is.

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The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a reverse review on this one. Unlike most other reviews, I liked the beginning and not the end. I was intrigued at first and guessed some of plot points. I was interested in the characters as well. But then things got silly and the writing simultaneously went downhill.

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Existentialism by Jean-Paul Sartre

Existentialism by Jean-Paul Sartre
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just a short explanation of Sartre's views on what Existentialism is and is not. Neither the philosophy nor this book did much for me.

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Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver

Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There were 22 stories in this collection, and I especially enjoyed 5 of them: They're Not Your Husband, Neighbors, What's in Alaska, Bicycles, and the title story. Carver seems especially good at the sadness of disappointment though Bicycles, in particular, seemed like the opposite- about a boy's admiration of his father. I have been told I need to read What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

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Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen, Bryce Leung

Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required by Kristy Shen, Bryce Leung
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

She has some good points and ideas (though she seems to willfully ignore Dave Ramsey's existence) and I'll definitely raise this one more star if I manage to implement her investing concepts. We are committed to living in our house until the kids (and probably after) are out of school and I'm not even sure how much of what she talks about applies in that very common situation.

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Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osborne

Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osborne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The true story of the Magic Tree House is revealed in this one. I think I'm good to go with the series now. I won't be reading or buying any more unless my daughter falls in love with the first 4 and demands them or something. My son isn't impressed either but he's already 8 and he's a pretty strong reader.

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Unbelievable by Katy Tur

Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting memoir and definitely contains some fodder for historians seeking to study the campaigns of politicians that go on to abuse power. My two main problems are that the jumping around through the chronology of the 2016 campaign is very difficult to follow. I followed the campaign closely and I'm still frequently confused.

My second big issue is the lack of depth one might expect from a more literary memoir writer. In the same vein, there is also a lack of analysis of what was happening at the time. The analysis of the suggested Muslim ban isn't that it's unconstitutional and why it's central to American values, it's a surface comparison to George W. Bush who said not to attack Muslim-Americans after 9/11. There's no analysis on dropping the Muslim ban issue or his attacks on other groups and instead Tur asked him questions about the size of his hands when the circus called for it. Any regrets or feelings of responsibility? No. In the same vein, whenever she touches upon feminist topics, there is no depth of analysis as to what should or shouldn't be allowed in journalism or social media or why.

It feels more like she left a voice recorder running while she reported and spoke on the phone to a friend.

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Never Broken by Jewel

Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was pretty good (I think my ratings are getting tougher as I read more and more, so maybe the old me would have given this 4 stars). Jewel's life so far has been interesting and she's clearly learned a lot which she tries to impart. There's a lot of stuff that feels like filler. It feels like she shoved an entire poetry/songbook inside the memoir and that should be a separate book. (In fact, she already has a poetry book, so it was strange that she decided to cram all this in.) There's also a lot of cliche-sounding self-help in this book. I don't personally appreciate the mix of self-help with memoir. If she just gave a sentence of advice here or there, it would have been fine, but it was pretty heavy-handed in giving entire lists of positive-thinking and meditation-type advice. I've read books on meditation as well, and there are many authors that cover it better than Jewel. Generally, she just needed a tougher editor and a book about 3/4ths the length of this one.

Here's a good one though: "We're so busy looking for and working towards the things that will make us happy that we blow right by our actual happiness... sitting quietly under a tree, being present with your child while you read a book to them, living in a smaller home, perhaps, so you can work less and have more quality time with your family, doing fewer enrichment activities so that you and your children can experience the joy of play."

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The Food Therapist by Shira Lenchewski

The Food Therapist: Break Bad Habits, Eat with Intention, and Indulge Without Worry by Shira Lenchewski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was pretty good. It had some good points and good tips. My main problem with it is that it entirely dismissed the fasting diets and there is a lot of science to support both their efficacy and their long-term health benefits, so just dismissing them without any explanation seemed very unscientific to me. That said, most of what she recommends here works well with fasting diets, and makes the fasting diets more likely to stick. On the flip side, fasting diets make Lenchewski's suggestions easier to implement. Lenchewski's suggestions also fall in line with what commercial diets like Weight Watchers aim to make clients do (though they mostly hide it behind their point system so you keep paying them).

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Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked this until the end. It’s like I read a literary fiction book but suddenly wandered into an Agatha Christie ending. Perhaps it is a play on Linley copying Mozart at the end, but maybe I’m reaching.

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The Starr Report by Kenneth W. Starr

The Starr Report: The Findings Of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr On President Clinton And The Lewinsky Affair by Kenneth W. Starr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought I wrote a review of this but I can't find it anywhere. Probably I was just too horrified after reading (horrified by both Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr). First of all, this reads like a smutty romance turned crime thriller so prepare yourself for that. It's dirty but definitely not hot, so I don't think Starr has a future as a romance writer.

Second, I was disappointed to realize, in retrospect, that Bill Clinton probably should have been impeached because he clearly broke the law. The issue isn't that he was cheating on his wife, nor was it the power dynamics with Monica Lewinsky, whatever you may think about that (3rd-wave-feminist-consenting-adult-view versus the concept that she was a low-level intern and her job was negatively impacted). The issue is that he was being deposed in one of his many sexual harassment lawsuits and he lied about related and relevant questions regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. On top of lying in a sworn deposition, he almost definitely committed the relevant sexual harassment (Gennifer Flowers I think?). Though isn't it almost charming in retrospect that Clinton let himself be deposed and allowed an impeachment to proceed against him? History is definitely going in the wrong direction.

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