Assassination Vacation

Author: Sarah Vowell
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2005
Pages: 272
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author of The Wordy Shipmates and contributor to NPR’s "This American Life" Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence, from Washington DC to Alaska, to better understand our nation’s ever-evolving political system and history.

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other — a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue — it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and — the author's favorite — historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

Review: I wanted to love this, but I just didn't. It was my "road trip" pick from the 2016 Reading Challenge.

The premise was there and the book held promise, but the author and her writing style grated on me. I've read and studied Lincoln's assassination in depth. My husband is an avid James Garfield fan and through him I've learned about his assassination. The chapter on President McKinley was weak, but not horrible. In other words, I didn't learn a whole lot, but suffered through the author's high opinion of herself anyway.

I'm going to read another Sarah Vowell book at some point because I hate to judge an author, particularly one who writes about history, by only one book. This is an older one too so maybe something more recent will be a better option.

Living Beyond Your Feelings

Author: Joyce Meyer
Genre: Self-Help
Publisher: FaithWords, 2014
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The average person has 70,000 thoughts ever day, and many of those thoughts trigger a corresponding emotion. No wonder so many of us often feel like we're controlled by our emotions. Our lives would be much improved if we controlled them. 

In Living Beyond Your Feelings, Joyce Meyer examines the gamut of feelings that human beings experience. She discusses the way that the brain processes and stores memories and thoughts, and then - emotion by emotion - she explains how we can manage our reactions to those emotions. By doing that, she gives the reader a toolbox for managing the way we react to the onslaught of feelings that can wreak havoc on our lives.

In this book, Meyer blends the wisdom of the Bible with the latest psychological research and discusses the 4 personality types and their influence on one's outlook, the impact of stress on physical and emotional health, the power of memories, the influence of words on emotions, anger and resentment, sadness, loss and grief, guilt and regret, the power of replacing reactions with pro-actions and the benefits of happiness.

Review: I chose this as my pick for a self-improvement book from my 2016 Reading Challenge. This isn't my genre of choice so I selected the audio version thinking it would be easier to digest. I was put off initially because it was "preachy," and then I realized I was probably annoyed because there's a lot of truth to her words and advice that I had been ignoring. 

The bottom line is that we cannot control others, we can only control ourselves. It seems simple, but I really liked that she pointed out that emotions are like unruly children, and it is up to us rational, mature adults to keep them in check. You can be really angry, but you do not have to react with anger. You always have a choice. 

I got a lot more out of this book than I had expected. I'm pleasantly surprised.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Author: Harriet Jacobs
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009 (first published in 1861)
Pages: 336
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the true story of a former slave's life told from her perspective. Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and as she grew older, became aware of the monumental injustice of the institution. As a young and attractive women, she also faced the unwanted attentions of her male owners. Facing a life of misery and fearing for her children' future, Jacobs fled and hid from her owner for seven years. She made her way to Philadelphia in 1842 and later purchased her children.

Review: Surprisingly easy to read in style and language, but difficult to digest. The horror, the treatment, the sad truth about slavery. This book was moving, and an important read. 

Still Growing

Author: Kirk Cameron
Genre: Autobiography
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers, 2008
Pages: 224
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Kirk Cameron is best known for his role as loveable teenage troublemaker Mike Seaver on the award-winning TV series Growing Pains, but his rise to fame and fortune is only part of his incredible story. In this intimate autobiography, Kirk opens up about his early years, his rocket to stardom, his life-changing encounter with Jesus and the hard choices he made along the way to live in the Way of the Master. Fans will get an up-close and personal look at what drives the former teen-magazine heartthrob and find out how God and family became the secrets behind his celebrated smile. In his own words, Kirk shares how he's still growing even through the triumphs and temptations of his Hollywood career.

Review: I haven't read a celebrity memoir or autobiography that I felt would win any writing awards. In fact, I only picked this one to read because my 2016 Reading Challenge says to read a book an autobiography, and I took that to heart (in other words, I wanted to stay true to autobiography and not go in the direction of a memoir). 

Anyway, this was one of the better celebrity-authored books I've read. Kirk Cameron is a likable guy. I was right to have a crush on him all those years ago.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Light read. Fast read. Good read.

I'd like to point out that my mom had told me years ago that Kirk Cameron was too old for me. As it turns out, he's only a couple months older than my husband.

I also want to mention that I requested the first season of Growing Pains from the library. My memories of the show are sketchy, at best.

Passing

Author: Nella Larsen
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penquin Publishing Group, 2003 (first published in 1929)
Pages: 94
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past. Clare’s childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism that continues to constrict her family’s happiness. A chance encounter forces both women to confront the lies they have told others—and the secret fears they have buried within themselves. 

Rating: I loved this. It was compelling on so many levels. The ending is fabulous. It was my choice for a book that is less than 150 pages from my 2016 Reading Challenge.

Summer's Child

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Mira, 2010
Pages: 400
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Early on the morning of her eleventh birthday, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea—an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant's identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria's loving family. But her silent secrets continue to haunt Daria.

Now, twenty years later, Shelly has grown into an unusual, ethereal young woman whom Daria continues to protect. But when Rory Taylor, a friend from Daria's childhood and now a television producer, returns at Shelly's request to do a story about the circumstances surrounding her birth, something precarious shifts in the small town of Kill Devil Hills.

The more questions Rory asks, the more unsettled the tiny community becomes, as closely guarded secrets and the sins of that long-ago summer begin to surface. Piece by piece, the mystery of summer's child is being exposed, a mystery that no one involved—not Shelly, Daria, not even Rory—is prepared to face.

Review: Checking off another book from my 2016 Reading Challenge. I really liked Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain, and wanted to read another. Lucky for me she wrote Summer's Child and gave it a blue cover :-)

Chamberlain does a great job of building the plot, and then offering the reader tidbits of information and little twists and turns throughout. It's a clever way to weave a novel.

I found Necessary Lies more compelling and complex than Summer's Child, and therefore the better of the two, but I may have found another go-to author.