What I'm reading ...

I have started Grandmothers by Salley Vickers. It was time for some fiction and this looked interesting. Here’s the blurb:

Grandmothers is the story of three very different women and their relationship with the younger generation: fiercely independent Nan, who leads a secret life as an award-winning poet when she is not teaching her grandson Billy how to lie; glamorous Blanche, deprived of the company of her beloved granddaughter Kitty by her hostile daughter-in-law, who finds solace in rebellious drinking and shoplifting; and shy, bookish Minna who in the safety of shepherd's hut shares with her surrogate granddaughter Rose her passion for reading. The outlook of all three women subtly alters when through their encounters with each other they discover that the past is always with us and that we go on learning and changing until the very end.

A Promised Land - by Barack Obama

I was interested in reading this book to get a different perspective, after hearing Michelle’s angle in her book Becoming, which I had very much enjoyed.

This is a big book - about 900 pages pf text - which I found rather daunting. It took me a while, but I was motivated to carry on with it - reading the book was never a chore. 

The book is very well written - coherent and well paced. It is long, even though it covers Obama’s political life only until around half way through his first term.  This is because it is very detailed, not covering just the facts about things that happened, but also the thoughts and planning leading up to them and the author’s feelings and reactions.

In a way, it is 3 books:

• an account of Obama’s political life
• a thoughtful history of key world events and the political scene in the US over this period
• a clear insight into a remarkable man, who is happy to document his successes, but not afraid to admit when he made mistakes

I am very pleased to have read it and look forward to the next volume.

What I'm reading ...

I have started A Promised Land by Barack Obama. I normally wait for the paperback publication of a book, which brings down the Kindle edition price, but I decided that this could not wait, as it is so topical. It is a big book and the first of two volumes, so quite a commitment.  Here’s the blurb:

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making-from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy

In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency-a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation's highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune's Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective-the story of one man's bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of "hope and change," and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.

This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama's conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.

Nine Perfect Strangers - by Liane Moriarty

This book, like the others that I have read by this author, pulled me in very quickly. The story has a brisk pace that moved me along. The characters are well-drawn so that I have a clear picture of each one in my mind. There are also not too many [11-12 main ones, I guess] so I always knew who is being talked about in the text.

The book is an interesting mix of a main storyline, multiple back-stories and a psychological exploration of the main characters. That sounds like a mash-mash, but it holds together well; it all seemed to belong.

Although aspects of the story seemed somewhat unlikely, they were far from being implausible. Very much the model for this author’s work. I have just one more book of hers that I have yet to read. I will resist that for a while and hope for more in the future.