Book review time! Here we go…
Bag Man by Rachel Maddow
In 2019, Rachel Maddow had a podcast series about former Vice President Spiro Agnew and how he almost went to jail for bribery, corruption, and tax evasion. The man literally took pay-offs while vice president, and I know in today’s times, this might seem low key, but he is the only vice president to ever resign, and he did this in order to avoid jail time! This book is based on the podcast and they both are well worth the read and the listen.
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
This is a contemporary mystery that takes places in Switzerland. A former sanatorium has now been turned into a swanky modern hotel and after all the guests arrive for an engagement party, a snowstorm/avalanche happens and all the guests are snowed in and people start dying and they realize they are trapped there with a murderer and there is no way out.
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It was definitely creepy and the author gets an A plus for delivering on the whole atmosphere thing, I mean who the heck would stay in a former sanatorium? But where my frustration started to grow is with the cop investigating the crime. I am tired of these stories lately that seem to be written where the female cop investigating had something traumatic happen to her in her recent past and now she has PTSD and somehow doesn’t know her head from her behind, but somehow pulls through and solves the crime. This kind of trope is what bothered me about Tessa Wegert’s novel Death in the Family. Like, how is this person even a police officer if they are constantly questioning themselves and asking others what they should do? So annoying.
Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss
I have mentioned before that I am a presidential history nerd, and this book has been on my TBR for awhile so I dived in and in and in and in… This book took me almost three weeks to finish which is unheard of because I am a fast reader but there was soooo much information, you just could not speed read through this. IT WAS SO GOOD! 5 starts all around! Did you know that the president is supposed to formally ask Congress for a formal declaration of war against another country (separation of powers and all that) and the last president to do that was Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 when he asked Congress to go to war against Japan and Germany? The U.S. has since fought against Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and none of these wars had a formal “declaration”. Fascinating…
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Awful, awful book. Total DNF.As of this writing, it has over 465 1-star reviews on Goodreads. Read some of them. They can better explain than me, why this book is detestable.
That’s it from me! What did you read this past month 🙂
I am intrigued by your loathing of Rodham. I have only heard good things from people who read it!
I have found that people really, really love Rodham or they really, really hate it. I fall into the latter category 😀
I just got a copy of Rodham. I’m really curious if I will like it now.
Some people really, really like it and others really, really despise it. I am curious to see what you think of the book 🙂
The Maddow book sounds so interesting!
It really was!
I own The Sanatorium. Thanks for sharing what frustrated you about it. It’s one I will hopefully be able to read soon.
I hope you enjoy it 🙂
The Sanatorium sounds like my kind of book! Will definitely be on the lookout for that one.
Awesome! 🙂
So I love the atmospheric sound of Sanatorium but like you, I hate that trope a lot too. It feels like one step forward, one step back kind of thing. Now women can be multi-dimensional – YAY! But they ALL must have suffered some deep, awful trauma to earn that depth. Uh, no. And yes, I realize “drama”, gives a story interest and intrigue because everything hunky dory is boring too, but I’m tired of every strong woman being strong because she has been raped, her sister was raped or her best friend was raped or so on (and this is not meant to invalidate the horror of actual rape or real life victims overcoming their trauma – but it’s the only well authors seem to be able to use) . And yeah, I would hope a seasoned police detective has a tiny bit more confidence and doesn’t need to have her every though validated by others. Wow. I’m ranty this morning. 🙂 I love Rachel Maddow. I wish all newscasters were like her.
Oh my gosh, that trope is so annoying! I get having a protagonist having a bit of a past or have some issue that that they are dealing with, but to make them sound and act stupid and not actually qualified for the job that they are holding?? Like, how are you even a cop if you are constantly asking your boyfriend what you should do? (Which is the case in this book, smh…) And what makes it more annoying to be honest, is when the novel is written by a woman. Do. Better.
Rachel Maddow is a national treasure. She is the best!