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.

Stonemouth by Iain Banks (read 6/3/19 to 6/9/19)

So this book is full of a lot of ambiguity regarding whatever the event was.  I felt like we didn’t move far.  I want to know what is going on though.  I don't care for time jumps and this book was particularly jarring for me.  I don’t like the flipping between past and present in the same chapter.  It’s confusing to follow.  We would flip in the same chapter an I wouldn't realized ht time period had changed at first.

It’s slow and most of the action is in memories of the past.  I was expecting more.  It felt like it took forever to get the story really moving.  

Overall this was an ok book, I had hoped it would be a little more fast paced.

A Man Called One by Fredrick Backman (read 5/4/19 to 5/27/19)

This is not my first Backman book.  I read My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and Britt-Marie Was Here.  This is written in the same style, I would call ironic minimalist.   He does not portray the characters in his book in a good light on the surface but they are always deeper than they appear.  And he pokes fun at society a lot.

Over grows on you, like so many of Backman’s characters they are really unlikable at first but as you get to know them and their history they become loveable.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (read 4/22/19 to 5/4/19)

This book made me feel really uneducated. I wonder if that is because the war was so bad for us and we lost that it isn’t taught as throughly as the wars we won?  I had a hard time finding a grove on this book...it drags for me.  I didn’t like this book, and after some reflection I realized I wasn’t supposed to. I didn’t like it because it made me uncomfortable. It showed some glaring gaps in my education when it came to the Vietnam war and the aftermath. I knew that out soldiers had been mistreated when they came home, but I had never given a thought about the treatment of the Vietnamese here or in Vietnam. And that made me uncomfortable to realize. This war showed everyone in a poor light, no one was on the right side everyone had an antagonist part to play. The world is violent, the author didn’t sugar coat it to make it easier for the reader, and he shouldn’t have. Maybe we have too sugar coated and blind to a giant historic event because it was unpleasant and we lost. This is one of those books that makes you not only look at the story, but society and yourself, and I didn’t like it because it wasn’t a favorable light. But with that being said I feel like at the end it clicked. I had borrowed this book from the library but I am going to buy a hard copy. I know I will want to read at least once more and I feel like this is a book my kids should have access to when older.