What I'm reading ...

I have started On the Road: Adventures from Nixon to Trump by James Naughtie. The author is very familiar for years of hearing him on the radio and I have met him a few times, finding him to be very amiable as well as a true professional. He has a good reputation as a journalist, so, when I saw this book was published, I was keen to get my hands on it. Here’s the blurb:

James Naughtie, the acclaimed author and BBC broadcaster, now brings his unique and inquisitive eye to the country that has fascinated him and drawn him across the Atlantic for half a century. In looking at America, from Presidents Nixon through to Trump, he’ll tell the story of a country that is grappling with a dream. What has it come to mean in the new century, and who do Americans now think they are?
Drawing on his travels and encounters over forty years in the ‘Land of the Free’, On The Road will be filled with anecdotes, memories, tears and laughter reflecting Naughtie’s characteristic warmth and enthusiasm in encountering the America of Washington, of Broadway, of the small town and the plains. Naughtie watched the fall of President Richard Nixon in 1974, and subsequently as a journalist followed the story of the country – its politicians, artists, wheeler-dealers and the people who make it what it is, in the New York melting pot or the western deserts. This will be a story filled with encounters, for example with the people he has watched on every presidential campaign from the 1970s to the victory of Donald Trump in 2016.

Not the End of the World - by Kate Atkinson

Despite my reservations about this being a collections of short stories, I really enjoyed this book. The quality of writing was excellent - just what I would expect from this author. The stories individually were well structured and very imaginative. What was not clear initially, but gradually became more apparent, were the links between the stories. Even though they do not have an obvious common theme [except, perhaps, death] and none of them [with one exception] have the same characters, people and situations are cross referenced increasingly as the book goes on. By the end, I was actively searching for the links. I look forward to the paperback publication [and resulting Kindle edition price decrease] of Kate Atkinson’s latest book.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson. This is a collection of short stories, which is not my favourite literary form - I much prefer to get my teeth into a 400+ page novel. But I have read and enjoyed a lot of this author’s work, so I thought I’d give it a go. Here’s the blurb:

What is the real world? Does it exist, or is it merely a means of keeping another reality at bay? Not the End of the World is Kate Atkinson's first collection of short stories. Playful and profound, they explore the world we think we know whilst offering a vision of another world which lurks just beneath the surface of our consciousness, a world where the myths we have banished from our lives are startlingly present and where imagination has the power to transform reality. From Charlene and Trudi, obsessively making lists while bombs explode softly in the streets outside, to gormless Eddie, maniacal cataloguer of fish, and Meredith Zane who may just have discovered the secret to eternal life, each of these stories shows that when the worlds of material existence and imagination collide, anything is possible.

Becoming - by Michelle Obama

As I am interested in people’s lives, I always enjoy reading biographies and autobiographies in particular. I am wary of autobiographies that are ghost written - I think it is usually possible to tell. In this case, I really feel that I am hearing the author’s voice; somehow it just seems genuine.

The book is extremely well written, with a good pace. I realized that it reminded me of the Apollo 13 movie. With the movie, I knew what the outcome would be, as it was firmly based on actual events, but I was still on the edge of my seat. This book had the same vibe and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I am very much a facts person, so feelings tend to need some explanation for me. Michelle Obama’s style is to write about how she felt about some event that was to take place. Then should would describe the event in factual terms. Then she would say how she felt about it. At a certain level, I now feel that I know the author just a bit. She comes over as very thoughtful, intelligent and eloquent and she takes pleasure in small - sometimes very ordinary - things, which is exactly what I endeavour to do myself. The book is inspiring and quite emotional.

The story ends when she and Barack hand over the White House to the Trumps. She does not hide her opinions and concerns about the new POTUS. Reading the book made me feel sad for America: what they had and they lost.