Cutting and framing lattice is stone cold torture.

Read - How to Be Alone

How to Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen

Why I grabbed it: Don’t remember | Genre: Essay Collection | Recommended: Nope

I have no idea why I put this collection of essays on my reading list but it was ok. There were a handful of stories that were phoned in, ‘Lost in the Mail’ comes to mind and I guess I forgot the others. I found the first three compelling though. ‘My Fathers Brain’, which can be found online, pulled me in and just made me sympathize with the author and his mother. ‘Imperial Bedroom’ is now dated as hell but in the face of the Mueller report there is a stark contrast. I was surprised how well it held up on the face of today’s privacy landscape. ‘Why Bother?’ starts and and holds a whining, lamenting, and grumpy survey of the novels place in the modern world of media. Even though it rambles there were spots that made me perk up, touching on diversity, cross pollination of ideas, and the common threads that make us readers. It was more interesting than unfocused. If you have time I’d pick at the first three essays, but the whole book might not be worth your time.

Read - Educated

Educated by Tara Westover

Why I grabbed it: Obama | Genre: Autobiography | Recommended: Yes

Educated came up on the best books of 2018. I think after I saw it on Obama’s list I added it to good reads and placed a hold at the library. Fast forward 6 months and it shows up in my kindle. Initially, I was a little soured on the ‘rags to riches’ summary but I started in right away as it was a decent sized book and I only had 3 weeks to finish it. The first chapter hooked me. Although there are many stories of a kind, medical accidents, ranting religious father, crazy dangerous work, and abusive family members, I found myself drawn in. At times, it’s a bit like watching a slow motion car accident. I found about halfway through, the perspective of Tara changed. She went from being a somewhat objective viewer of her past to being the main character. The situations were closer to home and she had less objective perspective on what was happening. For the last third of the book I had a knot in my stomach. I’m not sure I enjoyed the story, and I’m pretty sure that’s not the point. The memoir itself was striking and is firmly lodged in my mind. The writing though. The writing is excellent. Tara is clear, descriptive, wistful, and engaging. It’s worth the time to read it.

I’m just a bill.