The Odyssey of Echo Company is a military history given by multiple perspectives of the people who served our country in Vietnam.
It details how a young man joined the Army went through boot camp and found himself halfway around the world. It documents several battles including the Tet Offensive and gives some perspective on how those soldiers felt both during the war and after.
The Odyssey of Echo Company
My Thoughts
War is hard enough without so many of the public against you. Beyond the horror of theater, the most difficult thing for me to read was how our soldiers were treated when they came home.
A lot of the book had the feel of tall tales as it seems doubtful that one person could be so lucky. Still, I guess anything is possible.
Girl Wash Your Face is a self help book from Rachel Hollis who does a variety of things from podcasting to seminars and a little bit of everything in between.
This book is aimed at women who want to better themselves by feeling more empowered by believing they are good enough.
Girl, Wash your Face
My Thoughts
I listen to the Rise Together podcast and several women in my life are very familiar with Rachel Hollis. Many of the stories she tells in this book I had heard before. It reads a lot like she talks so it felt very familiar.
It is targeted toward women so I shouldn’t have felt bothered that she kept addressing the reader as “Girl!”. But it was a grating after a while. It is a lot like going to a yoga class and the instructor speaks to us all like we are all middle aged women.
Still, the message was good and I certainly respect where she is coming from. She certainly doesn’t have any issue sharing her feelings and what is on her mind. Yet, it felt like oversharing a couple of times. I don’t know, I like the Hollis couple and I will continue to listen to the podcast but, I didn’t get too much out of this book.
Grant by Ron Chernow is the biography of the Commanding General of the Civil War and our 18th President. Mr. Chernow takes us through the early life of Hyrum Ulysses Grant, on through West Point where he became styled Ulysses S. Grant, through his business exploits, through the Civil War, through both terms of his Presidency, and on through the his tragic death.
Grant
My Thoughts
Growing up, I’ve heard the name Grant more associated with “General” than President. Though he was both, I think that is more of how we think of him.
I was very touched by his honesty and saddened by how he was taken advantage of… Not to be too Pollyanna, I believe there are people like him everywhere. People do the right thing everyday without much fanfare.
I was glad to hear the story and it knit a good deal of history together for me.
Recommendation
Very good read but sooo long. It is well over a 1000 pages so buckle up! However, I must say I didn’t get bored the entire time. That says a lot…
David Sedaris is an acclaimed writer who started gaining fame in the 90’s as Ira Glass from “This American Life” picked him up on his talk show. Theft by Finding is a compilation of Mr. Sedaris’s diary which he has kept since the 70’s to 2002.
Theft by Finding
My Thoughts
This diary was one of the more depressing things I have been subjected to in a long time. I couldn’t finish it… I’ve found David Sedaris to be witty and engaging through my experience with “This American Life” but I didn’t enjoy his diary at all. It saddens me to think that there are many people out there with as bleak a life as Mr. Sedaris.
Recommendation
I would not recommend this book. There was little to nothing redeeming about it.
Choose Your Own Autobiography is an unconventional memoir written by comedian and actor, Neil Patrick Harris. The book allows readers to follow different paths through his life story, with the ability to choose their own adventure and jump between chapters at will. Harris provides a candid and entertaining look into his upbringing, rise to fame, and personal relationships, all with a playful and self-aware tone. With plenty of humor, pop culture references, and unexpected twists, Choose Your Own Autobiography is a unique reading experience effectively reflects the essence of Neil Patrick Harris’s personality.
Choose Your Own Autobiography
My Thoughts
This was a welcome change of pace from the history books I have been reading. This is a irreverent, fun, and (at times) a very inappropriate book. However, it was entertaining.
In the garden of beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin is about the Dodd family and their experience in pre-WWII Germany. William Dodd, the American Ambassador to Germany in the 30s, lived in Berlin with his family, including his daughter Martha. Mr. Dodd hoped that Germany’s government would never take on beliefs and practices of the Nazi party forming under his nose.
In the Garden of Beasts
My Thoughts
I enjoyed the description of how the Nazis came into power and how so many of the people really couldn’t believe what was going on. As our country is going through a populist phase, it is all too easy to draw parallels to the same kind of things happening today in our very own great country. Freedom of speech and religion is overwhelming important. We can not lose these freedoms…
Recommendation
I became a little lost with all the characters introduced in the book. It was an important book and I’m glad I read it but I had to push through some slow periods.
The Operator: Firing the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden is the autobiography of Robert O’Neill. He was a kid from Montana who ended up joining the Navy and became a SEAL. It also happened to be him that killed the most wanted man in our time.
The Operator
My Thoughts
I have read through other descriptions of Navy SEAL training and those who have gone through it but I really enjoyed it this time around. I found his story to be authentic and to ring true with what I know of military service. He was always making sure the reader knew he didn’t do it on his own. I particularly liked his description of the Navy SEAL wife network. Good book and great to peal a layer or two back from that time in our nations history.
Recommendation
Not for the younger reader but it was a great book.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly is a non-fiction book that tells the story of the contributions of African American women to NASA during the early days of the space race. The book provides a detailed account of the lives of these women and their work at NASA, as well as the broader social and historical context of the civil rights movement and the Cold War.
Hidden Figures
My Thoughts
Having grown up out West, the idea of racism wasn’t really played out in front of me. Before the trolls start lambasting me on that comment I feel I should mention I hold a degree in sociology and I’m well aware of the systemic and institutional forms of racism which are much more difficult to discern. That being said, it really wasn’t a thing for us. I grew up in a culture where we were constantly told that the white male was taking advantage and yet we were pretty much all white. Then I moved to the East Coast…
My first day of government service was at the Pentagon. I was attending orientation and was sitting next to a former Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant who happened to be black. We got along pretty well and spent our lunch together. He asked me if I was racist. I told him I didn’t think so. He told me, “You will be.” He then told me about how he had spent his entire career on the West Coast and no one had ever had an issue with the color of his skin until he came out East. He told me of an incident at a bowling alley just the week before involving his wife and some men who didn’t seem to believe she and their family should be there. (I have come to refer to these folks as rednecks.) Many experiences out here has demonstrated time and again that racism is still a thing along the coast.
Yet, it goes two ways as well. My first day on the job, before I even had a desk or a place to put my bag, a woman accused me of being racist and sexist. I was the incoming supervisor and the outgoing supervisor was writing up this person for not showing up to work on time. I sat in the corner of the room and didn’t say a word through their interaction. Yet, I was labeled sexist and racist because she felt I should have defended her. I’ve learned through sad experience after sad experience that this is the modus operandi of many federal workers. The good news is these folks are as easily spotted as the rednecks were in that bowling alley.
What does this have to do with the book? Well, I am particularly thankful for those who stood up for what is right and continue to do so. There are wonderful people of all colors and creeds who are a credit to themselves and their respective cultures. However, there are more than a few folks, again of all colors and creeds, who put the brakes on this progress by acting the fool. This book was a painful reminder of both sides of that coin.
I felt the message was powerful and something we should know so we can avoid the same pitfalls in the future. Yet, as a story, I felt it could have been much better put together. Perhaps the movie is better in this sense, but the book jumped around through too many people and too many time periods to keep my attention.
Recommendation
If asked, I would tell someone to see the movie. The book was hard but I had to will myself to continue.
My Own Words is a collection of essays and speeches by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The book covers a wide range of topics, including gender equality, women’s rights, the law, and her personal life. Ginsburg’s eloquent and powerful words demonstrate her unwavering commitment to justice and equality for all, particularly for women and marginalized communities. Through her speeches and writings, she shares her personal experiences and reflections on her life’s work, including her time as a lawyer fighting for gender equality, her appointment to the Supreme Court, and her legacy as a trailblazing feminist icon.
My Own Words
My Thoughts
This was a little hard to get through. I don’t agree with some of her political leanings however, I enjoyed the repeated calls of civility and collaboration she has made through the years. I liked when she refused to make guesses as to how she would pronounce judgments when she was nominated on the grounds that the law is complex and each circumstance is different.
Her husband was hilarious and it was indeed sad when he passed away. She is an icon of women’s rights but, in this reading, seemed to be all that she was about. We all have our axe to grind I guess.
Recommendation
I don’t know that I would read it again but I was glad I did.
Bill O’Reilly’s book on the assassination of Lincoln comprises the end of the civil war and the few days after the funeral of one of our best known presidents. It was published in 2011 and was on the best seller’s list for 65 weeks. There were some criticism of the book and there were changes made in subsequent versions.
I enjoyed the read and feel I learned a great deal. I do feel there were more than a few points where I stopped and thought, “there’s no way we know that”. Mostly, this is when the author tries to read the thoughts of the people as they are going about their day. Yet, I feel the book gave a balanced look at what happened and even gave time to discuss the conspiracies.
