My Time Among the Whites by Jennine Capo Crucet

My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education by Jennine Capo Crucet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Capo Crucet is a Cuban-American woman that's approximately my age that moved to Nebraska, and I'm a Cuban-American that moved to Nebraska, so I was pretty excited to read this collection. I don't have the same Florida ties but I did live in a particularly Cuban-area of New Jersey until I was 6.

I could definitely relate to some of the ideas expressed by the author. For example, I also always have to field the "have I ever visited Cuba" question. Capo Crucet didn't explain why that one is tough (which she probably should have given her audience), so let me do it: the laws regarding travel to Cuba are complicated, and if you seek to do it legally, it's tough. You can't access American cash over there, so currency will be an issue. Additionally, many Cuban-Americans support the embargo against Cuba, so even if you don't personally, get ready to face the ire of many friends and family. But that's not really an answer that you have time to give every single time you're asked, and I get asked a lot.

I particularly liked the essay about her marriage, moving to Nebraska, and then crashing a bunch of weddings. I thought it was really vivid and interesting, and her feelings were palpable.

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Mala by Melinda Lopez

Mala by Melinda Lopez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is so unbelievably good. This is the (Cuban-American) Boomer/ Gen X Death of Ivan Ilyich. Also if you want an approximation of many of the things (but definitely not all) I personally experienced with my dad's and my mother's deaths this is eerily close. My parents were very young though, my dad was 61 and my mom was late 50s. They very much did not want to die and were very scared. Both fought to the end, though my mother did agree to hospice in what turned out to be her last month. She didn't call me "mala" but it was strongly implied any time I tried to restrict any of her choices which I avoided a great deal.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what a masterpiece of plot. I wasn’t very impressed at the beginning, and I predicted some of the outcome very early on, but it built and built until it was so much more than I expected. Very well done, and a new favorite of mine.

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Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tongue-in-cheek spy novel that gets a bit dark and more exciting as it goes on. Graham Greene is a confusing author for me because he wrote one of my favorite literary works, The End of the Affair, but his writing isn't limited to literary fiction, and The Third Man, for example, is just some noir nonsense. This was sort of in between but I did enjoy it.

I was especially interested in the pre-Castro Cuban setting. My family is from Cuba, and around this time my grandparents would have been in their 20s. My paternal side moved to Santa Clara at about the time of the story (the main character James Wormold goes there on vacation). My maternal side moved to Havana shortly after the time period of the novel. All Cuban-Americans are devoutly anti-Castro but the sacrilegious question is always whether the dictator that preceded him, Batista, was also a bad guy. This makes the character Segura particularly interesting to me, especially since Greene doesn't make him as one-dimensional as it initially appears.

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Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a challenge to get through and should have been edited down significantly. Also, it is not really a personal memoir. No shocking revelations here or much personal material at all. It’s primarily a foreign policy book.

That said, it’s a great rundown of foreign policy events from 2008-2012 and sheds a lot of light on current events as well. Clinton gives specific examples around the world of different concerns that the players must weigh and that sometimes conflict: American values, promoting democracy around the world, promoting American economic interests, and promoting peace and security to name a few.

I marked all the countries she discusses at length in tags. But given the current climate, the Russian parts were of special interest to me. Seems like Putin and the Russians have a long list of reasons to dislike Clinton. Since this book was written well in advance of the election interference, the reasons are dispersed throughout the book.

Overall, I have to admire how knowledgeable she is about both foreign and domestic issues, how well she can communicate those issues, and how well she understands the importance of upholding our national values. It was also interesting to see how her disagreements with President Obama were presented in the book, with Obama being the more idealistic leader determined to adhere to these values even more than Clinton. She frequently defended less idealistic and more pragmatic options.



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Failed States by Noam Chomsky

Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy by Noam Chomsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The premise of this book is that America is no great hero of democracy at home or abroad. While Chomsky makes his case, the book is so heavy-handed and doesn't examine counterarguments or nuances. We are to believe all our leaders are evil or sold out completely? While I agree with his ideas and policy aims, I think the reality of being a political leader is a lot more complicated.

The best chapter was Chapter 6 about all the ways that we're undermining democracy at home. Of course, some intellectuals argue that increased democracy is not what we need, but leaders that are independent of special interests. Special interests might always have an edge in a democracy with free speech, even if the influence of direct money on politics were limited. Chomsky doesn't examine any of these differing views.

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Other tags: Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sudan

Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner

Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Starts out a little slowly but then becomes progressively more interesting. I did not have a good grasp of what the FBI has been doing since its creation- if anything I had an incorrect idea of what it does. I was particularly disturbed by the section on the FBI spying on Civil Rights leaders.

The ending is really interesting and hopeful because of all the positive changes in the Bureau.

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The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this book a great deal because it explains American history from after WWII until about 2007-08 with the benefit of documents that have been declassified and other information that has been uncovered. It presents a different account than the original explanations at the time (some of which was false).

It may be (or may not be) overly harsh towards the CIA, but it didn't strike me as biased against either political party. As a liberal, I felt somewhat more forgiving towards the George W. Bush administration after reading this book. It is a sobering look at flawed US intelligence and its effect on foreign policy. Definitely worth reading.

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The Limits of Power by Andrew J. Bacevich

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an old-school conservative view on America's foreign policy and its direct connection to our economic self-interest. Bacevich attributes blame for our failed and costly national security strategies on Republican presidents, Democratic presidents, Congress, Special Interests, military leadership, but most of all to the American people for being unwilling to sacrifice excessive consumption.

Bacevich provides an easy-to-understand summary of American economic and foreign policy since WWII to back up his thesis. He also discusses the role of a number of important executive and military leaders as well as civilian organizations. He doesn't pull any punches.

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Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky

Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a long refutation of the concept that it is helpful to security or morally right to maintain American hegemony. It is also, to a lesser extent, a refutation of that democratic peace theory (the theory that democratic countries go to war with each other less) somehow contributes to increased world peace.

The book is a scathing indictment of American foreign policy which is equal parts nightmarishly frightening (talks about American "terrorist actions") and somehow also totally boring. I think it's important to read, but good luck with that.

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Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino


This very short novel is completely unique in that it is collection of stories about cities that are really ideas and feelings. The stories are tied together by an imagined conversation between Marco Polo, who is reporting on the cities, and Kublai Khan who is unable to venture out and explore himself.

It's about memory, so it's interesting to reread it and see what I do and don't remember about the cities. The first time I read it was in 2010 while my dad was dying, and the city that stuck out was the one where ships sailed out and none returned. But in my reread I discovered this wasn't one of Marco Polo's cities but the Kublai Khan's dream, to which Marco Polo replies, "Forgive me, my lord, there is no doubt that sooner or later I shall set sail from that dock... but I shall not come back to tell you about it. The city exists and it has a simple secret: it knows only departures, not returns."

P.S. Holy cow the Mongol Empire was huge! I never realized it was that big!

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Vista del Amanecer en el Tropico by Guillermo Cabrera Infante

Vista del Amanecer en el Tropico by Guillermo Cabrera Infante
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very short stories about the history of Cuba. One story is so short that it's a sentence- almost a one-liner joke. Except it's not a joke, it's a horrifying truth. It goes" "The general asked the time and an aide-de-camp approached quickly and whispered: "Whatever time you want, Mr. President." [Translation my own as I have a Spanish copy and might suffer from some small Spanglish issues as I'm out of practice.]

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The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's beautifully written. It's about love, loneliness, poverty, injustice, and just going on in lonely old age.

The first time I read this I was lukewarm about it. It was only on my second reading that I appreciated the sadness (and happiness) of it more. But it was tough to get through both times even though it's short because it's so much fishing. It's as exciting as fishing will ever be, but it's still a lot of fishing.

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Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez

Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read the Spanish version of this, Memoria de mis putas tristes. When I read this, I hadn't read Lolita yet. It's probably inspired by Lolita but it's also the exact opposite of Lolita. I thought it was a sad and beautiful story about mortality and love.

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