For the Love of Books (Graham Tarrant)

Graham Tarrant's For the Love of Books has as its subtitle Stories of Literary Loves, Banned Books, Author Feuds, Extraordinary Characters, and More. Sounds exciting, right? On paper, it certainly does, but the way it is set up, it reads more like an encyclopedia or textbook.

Each literary topic is divided into small sections designed, I'm assuming, to be read a few at a time. This setup seems like it would make it an easy read, but it did just the opposite for me. The sections were so short that they provided very little new insights about the author or book they were talking about. I would have liked the author to have taken a more in-depth approach instead of just giving the reader a limited overview.

I found For the Love of Books to not be interesting enough to read all the way through at a normal book's pace. In fact, I began it in August 2019 and didn't fully complete it until now. For bibliophiles, it definitely offers some fun tidbits about books and the authors behind them. But with no clear path through, it's difficult to see the point of it all.

MY RATING - 2

Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events (Robert J. Shiller)

The study of economics is often considered joyless, boring, and even “dismal” in some quarters, probably because much of its research and work deals with facts and figures. Unless you love facts and stats, economics may not be something that interests you even though we are all generally impacted by the economy at large. Economists have often been cast as boring and robotic by society over the years for bringing their numeric approach to life. Robert J. Shiller's Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events hopes to change some of those perceptions. 

Shiller argues that the field of economics should increase its scope of data research to include stories that affect individual and societal economic behavior. His point is that pulling these narratives in will have the potential to improve predictions of future economic events, such as depressions and recessions, and help better prepare governments and businesses to deal with those events when they do occur. He also pulls in various stories from the 19th and 20th Centuries, both in good economic periods and bad, to help drive his points home that narratives can often influence, change, or even exacerbate what goes on around us. In an increasingly social age, Shiller believes that these narratives will provide valuable data going forward.

The book attempts to pull more of the "social" into the social science classification that economics falls into. I felt it was especially interesting in connecting the societal dots to events and that his arguments to utilize stories and narratives to help economists out in the future have value and merit. Narrative Economics is a bit technical and “in the weeds” at various times so I can’t recommend it as a casual read, but I do think those with an eye towards research, data, business, and social science work will gain some valuable insights.

MY RATING - 4

Presidential Misconduct: From George Washington to Today (James M. Banner)

Presidential Misconduct was originally compiled in 1974 at the request of Congress, during the investigations of Richard Nixon. It was intended as a historical account of past misdeeds, scandals, and investigations in presidential administrations from George Washington through Lyndon Johnson. One of the historians that contributed to the 1974 report, James M. Banner, has put together another panel to review administrations from Nixon through Barack Obama. This update was done in response to the current investigations surrounding the Trump administration.

The original report found that each president save for William Henry Harrison has been accused of misconduct of some level, from rigging elections to fiscal mismanagement to employing corrupt staff. Yes, even George Washington was levied with charges of being a tyrant by anti-Federalists.  The updated account includes Watergate, Iran-Contra, Whitewater, and other events that were heavily investigated by Congress or the press. Some presidential accounts are much longer than others for a host of reasons. Some of the investigations were legitimate but others came about as the result of overinflated charges made by enemies of that particular administration.

Given the highly political times we are in, this book is a great reference on how politics, power, and the pursuits of both have shaped the ebb and flow of the behavior of presidential administrations over the years. Congress’s response to perceived and actual corruption is also brought in for each president’s record. Presidential Misconduct is written without bias and with heavy reference to past historical records and worth your time if you are a student of history or political science.

MY RATING - 4

Christmas Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)

Reading about the exploits of Becky Brandon (nee' Bloomwood) is like spending time with an old friend. Christmas Shopaholic is the ninth of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic books, and while there's nothing earth-shattering here, it's still a fun way way to while away a wintry afternoon.

Becky loves Christmas, but this year, her parents have moved away and asked her to do the hosting. Hosting Christmas in this family is the opposite of a low-key affair: Becky's sister, Jess, wants a vegan turkey and each attendee in turn has demands of their own. Becky is just plain stressed out, wanting everything from the gifts to the decorations to be absolutely perfect. Misunderstandings ensue until the final twist at the end (which genuinely surprised me). And of course, we couldn't have a book in the Shopaholic Series without lots and lots of shopping; this being Christmas, Becky takes it to the extreme.

I usually find Becky Brandon to be a fun character, but in this one, she gets into a few too many frustrating situations. Not my favorite Shopaholic book but still an entertaining read for the holidays.

MY RATING - 3.5

Christmas in Vermont (Anita Hughes)

When you find yourself meandering over to the bookstore's holiday section, you usually know what you're going to be getting. There are no surprises in a holiday novel, but readers love them precisely for their predictability so they can escape from the real world. All that being said, it's important that a holiday book have at least some whimsy and warmth and for any book to keep the reader's attention. Even with a title like Christmas in Vermont, I didn't really find either of these in this book.

Emma is a Manhattan copywriter who visits a pawn shop on Christmas Eve. She finds her ex-boyfriend's engraved watch and wonders whatever became of him. Her best friend, Bronwyn, discovers that Fletcher, the ex-boyfriend, is staying in a snowy Vermont inn and sends Emma there. What Bronwyn doesn't know is that Fletcher has a fiance and a daughter.

Christmas, a Vermont Inn, snow -- sounds magical, right? It is in theory, but while holiday novels do require the reader to suspend disbelief at times, this one had way too may "coincidences" to be believed. Hughes calls it "synchronicity" in the book, but it just came off as annoying. Finding ex-boyfriend's engraved watch in a pawn shop? Check. Best friend sends me to the same middle-of-nowhere inn as my ex-boyfriend? Check. I become close with my ex-boyfriend's ten-year-old daughter? Check. Ex-boyfriend has a fight with his fiance and the fiance leaves? Check. You can only guess how it ends.

There are better holiday books out there.

MY RATING - 2

Messengers: Who We Listen To, Who We Don't, and Why (Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks)

Messengers by Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks makes the argument that we often are basing our opinions and decision-making not by the facts being argued but by whom is doing the persuading.  These "messengers" are influencers within business, politics, and our broader way of life, and we arguably live in an Instagram Influencer world.

Martin and Marks do a very thorough job exposing the traits that create these powerful messengers. Dominance, trustworthiness, warmth, and socioeconomic positions are four of the traits and characteristics that are given extensive discussion. The reader learns how and why one video may get many more views than another, how one person's tweet may get a lot more traction compared to someone else’s, and how political candidates are perceived by the public at large.  Some of these reasons, regardless of truth, are pretty sobering.

Understanding these traits and the associated reasons for people thinking and acting the way they do is important. What this book lacks is coming up with steps to deflate the messenger’s influence and how we can better arm ourselves against being swayed by that tweet in the echo chamber, that piece of fake or questionable news, or that click-bait headline. However, Messengers is a good study of our psychology and, for anyone in a position of leadership, a book that is worth a read.

MY RATING - 3.5

The Immortalists (Chloe Benjamin)

Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists confronts the reader with a common question: Would you want to know the date you are going to die, and if you did, how would you live your life differently knowing it?

In 1969, four young siblings sneak away to see a fortune teller who claims to know everyone's date of death. For some of the children, the date they hear is devastating and so much sooner than they ever expected. Subsequent sections follow each of the Gold siblings as they try to live their life with the prophecy in their minds. All four are very different but connected by what they know...or believe to be true.

The Immortalists has a very original premise, and Benjamin set the narrative up in a way that each brother or sister must deal with their siblings' deaths as they come. For me, though, the execution wasn't entirely successful because I didn't feel that the characters were fleshed out as much as they could have been.

Still a worthwhile read and one that makes you think about your own life.

MY RATING - 3.5