Book #71 of 2019: Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land This house cleaner’s personal narrative is a heartbreaking reminder of the precarious nature of life in America’s lower classes. Author Stephanie Land illustrates how a single surprise expense will send her situation spiraling, how her already-low wages …
Tag Archives: memoir
Book Review: Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future by Peter Buttigieg
Book #59 of 2019: Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future by Peter Buttigieg This book is interesting as a memoir of a young mayor, but I don’t think it particularly makes the case for the author’s long-shot presidential bid. Pete Buttigieg’s political successes in both campaigning and governing have …
Book Review: Becoming by Michelle Obama
Book #51 of 2019: Becoming by Michelle Obama Overall a fantastic memoir from the former First Lady, spanning from her 1970s childhood in the South Side of Chicago through her departure from the White House in 2017 at the end of her husband’s second term. As an author, Michelle Obama is a consummate storyteller, reflective …
Book Review: Off the Sidelines by Kirsten Gillibrand
Book #48 of 2019: Off the Sidelines by Kirsten Gillibrand This 2014 memoir / female empowerment guide is essentially my introduction to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 presidential candidate who has only been peripherally on my radar before now. Reading it hasn’t convinced me to vote one way or another in that upcoming primary election, …
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Book Review: Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House by Cliff Sims
Book #42 of 2019: Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House by Cliff Sims There’s a tendency for this new genre of tell-all books concerning Donald Trump’s presidency to come across as overly gossip-driven and vengeful, and just as the title suggests, that’s ultimately how this one from former aide …
Book Review: This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps
Book #41 of 2019: This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps I mostly know actress Busy Philipps from her work on the long-running stage show / podcast the Thrilling Adventure Hour, and I’ll admit that I primarily picked up this book hoping — in vain, as it turns out — for stories of …
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Book Review: Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
Book #18 of 2019: Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward Unsurprisingly given the power of her novels, author Jesmyn Ward’s presentation of her own early life as a poor black girl in rural Mississippi during the 1980s-90s crack epidemic is equal parts insightful and gut-wrenching. Told mostly as a series of vignettes, this memoir centers …
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Book Review: The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
Book #15 of 2019: The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris A campaign book is probably never going to be great literature, but this one presents a solid introduction to its author, California Senator Kamala Harris, as she launches her run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Presumably an extended version of …
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Book Review: The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal
Book #247 of 2018: The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal This short fitness memoir — titled after Jim Fixx’s 1977 classic The Complete Book of Running — is a lot of fun, especially for readers who run themselves. I don’t always agree with author Peter Sagal’s advice, like that runners should do without …
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Book Review: 41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush
Book #243 of 2018: 41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush My political views are very different from both the author and the subject of this presidential retrospective, but thankfully the former steers largely clear of politics to talk about the latter’s character. (The author’s brother Jeb, for example, barely features in …
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