The Shadows of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron (read 7/25/19 to 7/30/19)

This was a BOTM read for August, but my library copy came in early, so I had
to read it early.
It starts off so dark and dreary and mysterious, and then a secret library with books nobody remembers are stored and still read and loved. And on Daniels first visit he adopts the book title, so it can never go extinct.  I loved the premise behind the story.  There was a great mystery and what happened to the  author Julian?  There were parts of the story that were very slow for me, particularly in the middle, I didn't really see how it added to the plot.  The ending had a bit of a twist, most of it I had figured out, but the shocker part I did not. But it did wrap everything up nicely in the end.   Overall it was an ok book.

The Cactus by Sarah Haywood (read 8/8/19 to 8/11/19)

This was an ok book for me. I didn’t love it. But it was a quick read. I don’t like Susan, she has a stick up her ass and is very cold. I don’t care for her treatment of people in her life, I understand it’s her character, but it doesn’t make me like her in the least. I feel no sympathy towards her, and actually I feel like she gets what she deserves. Throughout the book, I never really got to like her, I saw the twist by the 50% point. Everything wrapped up a little too neatly. It was an easy break between some heavier novels I have been reading. I don’t think I would recommend it. I like the writing style and authors voice, it was the story itself I didn’t care for, and the characters never grabbed me. There wasn’t a single one I cared about wha happened to them. I could see Susan’s growth as a person through the book, Haywood did that brilliantly, but I just didn’t care for who Susan was as a person enough to celebrate her changes.  I liked Haywood's writing style enough to see if she had written any other books, and she hadn't.  But I will be willing to her her next book a go.

The Deep State by Mike Lofgren (read 7/31/19 to 8/7/19)

This book is written by a former Republican Congressional Employee, he worked for 28 years as a staff member and national defense analyst for the House and Senate budget committees. He said, “My purpose with this book is to question the rationale of the game rather than attack the player who happens to be at bat at any given inning.”

Deep State: “A shadow government ruling the United States that pays little heed to the plain words of the Constitution8. It’s governing philosophy profoundly influences foreign and national security policy and such domestic matters as spending priorities, trade, investment, income inequality, privatization of government services, media presentation of news, and the whole meaning and worth of citizens’ participation in their government.”

“A hybrid association of key elements of government and parts of top-level finance and industry that is effectively able to govern the United States with only limited reference to the consent of the governed as normally expressed through elections.”

This was a depressing read, 265/277 pages about how corrupt and messed up our government is. I will give it to Lofgren he equally blamed both parties. It was a lot of depressing stuff, nothing is what it seems, everyone has a secret agenda, and nobody cares about the state of our country or its citizens.

But don’t fear Lofgren has the solutions in his final chapter.

1. Eliminate private money from public elections. 
2. Sensibly redeploy and downsize the military and intelligence complex. 
3. Stay out of the Middle East. 
4. Redirect the peace dividend to domestic infrastructure improvement. 
5. Start enforcing our antitrust laws. 
6. Reform tax policy. 
7. Reform immigration policy. 
8. Adopt a single payer health care system. 
9. Abolish corporations personhood status, or else treat the exactly like persons.

Overall Lofgren seems to have been telling what he saw as an insider at Congress, and how disappointed and disillusioned with our government he was when he left.  He provided a great amount of evidence for why change is needed, which I think we all know, and his solutions are not new ideas, just ones that no-one seems willing or able to make happen.  Besides writing this book, it did not seem he was trying to change anything, I did not hear about him becoming an activist or even a lobbyist.  Maybe he thought this book was action enough?  I don't know why I disliked it so much, yeah the subject matter was hard, there were some events that it provided a new perspective on, but for the most part, I already knew that at the upper echelons of our government there is disfunction and change needs to happen so that more can be accomplished.  Maybe it was his tone that bothered me, he writes with a disgust and a "no hope" attitude up until the last chapter.  I love my country, and I understand that we are not functioning at the best of our ability right now, both public and private, government officials and private citizens, maybe I am an optimist but I don't feel that there is no hope.  I just don't know when it will happen, but when it does I hope it will be swift.

*Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of the US Government. None of the ideas expressed in this blog post are shared, supported, or endorsed in any manner by my employer.

Educated by Tara Westover (Read 7/21/19 o 7/25/19)

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Whoa she was part of a cult, hidden birth (no birth certificate until 9) no schooling, I missed that part in the description. Amazon description:

“Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home”

Her father is obviously mentally ill, but as a child she thought his obsessions and paranoia was normal life. I admit I had some issues keeping all the siblings straight, and by that I mean what age order.  Other than that, it was a really easy read, the subject matter may not have been, but Tara's storytelling was in an easy manner, like we were talking over coffee.

As an abuse survivor myself, I can see her acceptance of the past in the last chapter. And by acceptance I don’t mean forgiveness, I mean that she can accept the past happened and that her choices to no longer be abused had consequences. That was her education, she learned the truth of her childhood and the abuse, verbal, emotional and physical that took place and she choose to no longer accept that behavior towards herself. We all want when we say “this is not ok to treat me this way” to our loved ones for them to change the behavior, and it is heat breaking when they don’t.

I found her story entirely engaging and enjoyable, she had lived through a horror of a childhood. But it is not written with malice or hate. I can see how writing down her story was part of her healing process, and even after all she has been though how deeply she loves her family.

I have read some articles after finishing this book, that her parents are denying the abuse etc., it did not make me doubt her story. If anything it re-enforced my belief, their reaction is what would be expected, and gave her more credence in my mind.

I was not expecting to read about such a hard, controversial issue. But I feel Tara told her story with honesty and compassion and love. Her writing was easy and conversational. At its heart, it wasn’t a book about Mormonism or abuse. It was a book about Tara and the very personal journey she has taken to become the person she is.

Crisis Point by Trent Lott and Tom Daschle (Read 7/13/19 to 7/21/19)

This seems like a timely read with with the way politics are currently and as broken as Washington is. This book is written by two former Senators and was published in 2016. It is even more relevant in today’s political environment. Lott and Daschle spend the first part of the book talking about history and how our Congress came to be so dysfunctional. They talk about how it used to work and bipartisan bills would pass. Government is not meant to agree, but they are meant to compromise. Something I think our current Congress members have forgotten. Lott and Daschle have some bipartisan solutions to the issues too.

• A national primary day, all states vote in primaries on the same day, or regional primaries if not a single. 
• Change voting day from Tuesday to the weekend. 
• Develop an electronic voting system. 
• Limit campaign length, fixed starting point a few months out from the election. 
• Limit leadership PACs to the top 3 leaders on each side. 
• Transparency in super PAC donations 
• 5 day work week in Congress 
• Have senate and house in same schedule, 3 weeks on, 1 week off 
• Senators limited to serving on 1 major and 1 minor committee 
• Bills posted a minimum of 3 days in advance of vote 
• Return to the requirement that a Senator hold the floor in person to filibuster 
• Abolish dual tracking 
• Require a member to come to the floor to announce a hold 
• Require a year of national service (military, civilian, or volunteer through nonprofits or religious institutions) when between ages 18-28. 
• Student debt forgiveness for national service as an incentive. 
• Reimplement mandatory civics classes in high schools. 
• Private sector provide for service-sabbatical opportunities. 

All of those ideas seem reasonable and good starting points to make our government function again. They end the book with the following, “It is not only within our power to change things, it is our duty: we must work and fight for it.” It is not out government official alone who have to change the way they function, it is our duty as citizens to advocate and ask, and yes even sacrifice our personal wants, to evoke change that is best for out country instead of just for ourselves.

*Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of the US Government. None of the ideas expressed in this blog post are shared, supported, or endorsed in any manner by my employer.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (read 7/11/19 to 7/13/19)

At first I felt that it is weird that this book doesn’t have chapters.

I forgot how much I love Pratchett’s tone, he really doesn’t take himself or his stories seriously. Which is why he is so much fun to read.  I really flew through the book, without chapters there are no natural stopping points lol

I really enjoyed the characters they were wacky and fun.  There was lots of humor, mostly of the dry British variety.  Good ending, leaves you wanting to read the next one.  Super fun 

How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill (read 6/29/19 to 7/11/19)

This book was not at all what I expected, but then again that is what I get for thinking I know what is going to be in a history book.This had a lot more about the Roman Empire than I expected, the entire first 67 pages in fact. It was fascinating to read about the rise of the monks and Catholisim in Ireland, and how it effected all of Europe.  I really enjoyed the writing tone, it was a history book, but the author had a sense of humor.  He kept it light with lots of puns.