Books of 2012

     

    

When I started this blog, I would diligently write book reviews as I finished new books, but then something great happened. I started reading so many books so quickly, I just didn't have time to right a thoughtful review for each one.

So, here's a little update on the top 5 books I've read this year.

1. Looking for a lesson in Atlanta history? Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn walks you through the city's history through the families that would produce two mayors. The story telling is beautiful and the interviews with the family's are invaluable. Also, for a book that is told from such a personal perspective, this book is careful to be objective, especially when it comes to failed policy.

2. An uplifting story about the power of the human spirit, Louis Zamperini is a real-life Forrest Gump. From the Olympics to a WWII POW to a difficult return home, Laura Hillenbrand infuses this story with personality, humor and inspiration. By the end of the book, I was in tears!

3. If you're looking for something more light hearted, Sloane Crosley is your girl. Her observational story telling skills are unmatched and I giggled my way through the short stories in the book. My favorite story involves Alaska and bears.

4. I read Team of Rivals before I knew there would be a Lincoln movie out this year. I'll confess, the size is a bit daunting and their are too many characters to keep up with. Goodwin, however, does a good job navigating the plots and adds great flourish to what could have been a stale recounting of history. Got some downtime later this month? This is definitely your book.

5. My husband thinks I'm obsessed. I've now read 6 books at least partially about Zelda Fitzgerald's life. Did her husband's drinking drive her crazy? Did her instability drive her husband to drink? When did the marriage sour? Would F. Scott Fitzgerald ever become the legend he is without his wife/muse? Would he have been able to have a more substantial career without her? The more I read. The more I want to know. This is by far my favorite of her biographies, although they're all great.

If you would still like insight into the books I'm reading, let's be friends on Goodreads. I update this site pretty regular on what I've read since it'll give me new recommendations.

Book 6: How Did You Get This Number

I love Twitter for its jokes, its news but, most of all, that it exposes me to so many new things. Whenever Twitter leads me to something new, I never remember how I landed there, who took my hand, what path I chose. However, it really opens my horizons and makes me wonder why I didn't know it before. Like Sloane Crosley.

"How Did You Get This Number" is a great story about growing up, or being of age finally learning. Her command of observational story telling and mastery of adjectives makes me, a former government PR flack, want to write a "power word" list.

There's something about your 20-somethings that make you feel both old and incapable. You should be so much farther along in life than you are. Sloane embraces that while making it feel like more of an adventure than the trip where you lost your map and no one spoke English. Which is what I feel like all the time.

I can't wait for my beach trip in May. This book will be great to re-read in a place where the world seems more stable, where you can breathe.

Then I apologized to the travel gods for thinking I could do this, remembering there's a reason we don't always fulfill the wishes of our younger selves once we're grown.

Book 5: Bossypants

If you can make me laugh, I want you to be my friend. You can be a terrible, horrible person. You can be the worst cynic ever. If you make me giggle, you win.

Someone told me they were shocked that I liked 30 Rock and Tina Fey. "She's so liberal. How can you listen to that? She's out to destroy our values."

Yes, there are values I hold dear and I've worked very hard for candidates I believe in. At the end of a hard day though, I just want a good laugh, folks.

..And, that's why I love Bossypants.

My mom had surgery earlier this year and I spent the whole day in the hospital reading passages of Bossypants.. to my grandmother, who didn't understand. I reread the book a few weeks ago, on a football Saturday, aloud to Steve, who pretended to listen but at least laughed.

One of the best passages in the book is about Amy Poehler's first day at SNL. She's goofing around with Jimmy Fallon, who returned the joke by saying she was unladylike and he didn't like it. "I don't f*cking care if you like it."And she moved on.

It made me think about my own work demeanor and personality. How often do I shy away if someone doesn't laugh? How often am I scared to reach out at a networking event for worried I might be shunned? Why do I care if they like it?

All I Want For Christmas

My mom had a garage sale recently where she finally cleaned out all of little things we accumulated in our childhood. We had told her for a while we didn't want them, but she was convinced that one day we'd be sentimental about boxes of notes, pictures, old clothes. She was disappointed when we weren't.

So she sold off board games, purses, posters, books. When I was there, I realized how much of it was once gifts. In high school and college, we all felt the need to buy everyone a gift whose phone number we had. Even now, we spend money on gifts for family, friends and co-workers that we don't even know if they'll like- or even care. It's the thought that counts, right?

I'm blessed with a great friend, Sarah Melissa, that introduced me to the Five Love Languages. Gary Chapman wrote the books to help people understand compatibility and how individuals, even great people, may not be compatible because they express and receive love in different ways.

For me, I feel loved through physical touch, words of affirmation and quality time (also, proving I'm high maintenance). Steve feels loved through physical touch and quality time. Neither of us feel loved when we get gifts. Last Christmas, we bought each other small gifts but spend our money on something we really needed, a new mattress and bedroom furniture.

With everyones' finances a little tighter this year, why don't we focus on what our friends and family really need? Sure, some people want gifts, but others want some time together, support, a hug. What do you really need for the holidays? Ooo, take the quiz, too. What's your love language?

*Thanks to my favorite website Learnvest.com for inspiring this post.

Book 4: Game Change

 I love politics. Since I was 16 years old watching Bush debate Gore, I've been enthralled with candidates, campaigns, media and grassroots politics. I love America, I love her promise and I want to know about the individuals who will make decisions about her future.

Also, there's something exhilarating about politics. It's the biggest reality TV show there is. There's so many elements, strategies, personalities, tactics. It's easy to find yourself deep into the minutia before you realize it.

After volunteering my time and working in an official capacity on campaigns since I was a wide-eyed College Republican, I finally took a step back early this year. While I now work with candidates, non-profits and companies on social media and messaging strategy, I don't consider myself a full-time politico anymore and I was happy for the reprieve.

However, after six months away, I find myself being drawn back in. Maybe it's the economic climate or the heightened partisan rhetoric. Maybe now that I don't feel like my career is dependent on the right talking points, I can embrace it more. Whatever the reason, I'm finding joy in keeping up with politics again.

Game Change is written as the behind-the-scenes information on the 2008 Presidential campaign. It's kind of written like a reality TV synopsis: gossip and play-by-play over policy. Written by two reporters and compiled from lots of off-the-record interviews, I took it with a grain of salt. However, the insight was unmatched and it was really interesting to see the candor with which some of the information was given. (I guess that's the benefit of off-the-record interviews.)

Most of the book focuses on the Democratic race because (let's face it) it was more interesting. I did enjoy the McCain section. I was always confused how McCain went from carrying his own luggage at campaign stops (literally) to becoming the nominee. The book didn't shed a lot of light on that, but it did help me understand the campaign structure. I heard horror stories about the campaign's disorganization throughout 2008. From the book, you can see the candidate was never fully sold on running. Sure, he'd be President but campaigning didn't really appeal to him. Also, his staff was cobbled together after his first round of staffers quit when funding ran out. We were left with a candidate who wasn't committed to the campaign and staff that wasn't committed to the candidate. That campaign will never work.

Game Change assumes that you come to the book with a lot of knowledge of the Presidential campaign process and doesn't offer much background on the progress of primary dates or campaign deadlines unless they fuel the story. Also, I frankly found the authors' writing style pretentious. However, overall the book was a great read with enough gossip to keep it interesting.

Book 3: Charlie Wilson's War

Hello, friends. Despite my terrible record on blog posting, I have been reading books without your knowledge. A few months ago (yikes!), I finished Charlie Wilson's War. You're probably familiar with the movie starring Tom Hanks and Julie Roberts, with Amy Adams in a fabulous supporting role. Seriously, I felt like you could see my frustrations about working in politics all over Amy Adams' face.

Anyway, I hadn't read the book, but it came highly recommended from a friend after I professed my love for All the President's Men (one of my favorite books and movies).

I really enjoyed the inside glimpse into history and the candid interviews. Charlie Wilson was not the most ethical lawmaker, but he's not afraid to admit it, either. It's also crazy to read this and think about America's current role in the Middle East. A lot of the first steps are outlined here.

For me, the book had two distinct sections: the section with Joanne Herring and the unfortunate, boring section without her.

Courtesy of http://joanneherring.com/

Joanne Herring, or the inspiration for Julia Roberts' character in the movie, was the Texas socialite who brought the Afghan freedom fighters to Charlie Wilson's attention. She's everything a good Southern woman should be: passionate, outspoken, stylish, wealthy and fabulous. My favorite line to sum her up: "Invariably, when reporters wrote features about Joanne Herring, they invoked Scarlett O'Hara."

Even though I don't like fiction, I'm still a girl that falls for romance and passion. Joanne brings that to the book. As the story moves along to weapons, battles and Congressional action, it loses all the glitter Joanne brought. 

My verdict: The beginning is a must read, but stop when it gets boring.

Book 2: Courage and Consequence

One of the perks of my job is that I get to meet Republicans as they swing through Georgia. In 2010, Karl Rove visited the Georgia Republican Party as part of our Republican Round-Up, which included training sessions for grassroots volunteers as we geared up for the election cycle.

Mr. Rove was nice enough to hold press availability before the event and I sat in on the session. Marietta Daily Journal reporter Jon Gillooly was kind enough to record most of it. I was so struck in the interview by Mr. Rove's depth of knowledge (heck, he threw in some Georgia knowledge) and his likability. A speech to our attendees only underscored those observations.

I enjoyed reading his book immediately after President Bush's because they discuss similar events with the different perspectives.

I also enjoyed it because the political insight it provides into both the Bush campaign plans and their agenda in office.

Above all, I was touched by the dedication and admiration Rove had for Bush, even after a tumultuous professional relationship. I hope to be blessed with that type of trust in my career.

Book 1: Decision Points

Another goal on my 30 Before 30 list is to read more. I still need to define "more" but I'm already on my second book of the new year. I'm pleased with my progress.

I've been toying with the idea of buying a Kindle. While in Louisiana, I downloaded the Kindle application to my Blackberry, which turned out to be a much wiser decision. The application is free and my Blackberry is almost like an additional appendage anyway. Now, I can read on the go without carrying an extra device.

The first book I read was President Bush's Decision Points. Let me preface a couple of things here. I work in political communications. I was drawn to my profession during the 2000 Presidential elections, when I was 16. I watched the debates and the stories. I was drawn to Bush's convictions, his plans and his style. The first thing I did on UGA's campus was join the College Republicans.

I understand that some people do not like Bush. I am not one of those people.

With that out of the way, let me give a resounding recommendation for Decision Points. He writes it to explain many of the difficult decisions he made throughout his presidency, including those surrounding 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also includes biographical information that is really touching, especially his relationship with his parents.

The book showed me how enveloped he became in an issue before making a decision, how well-read he is (both for research and for personal benefit), and how deeply each decision weighs on him, especially decisions involving our military. Several of the stories moved me to tears.

I believe he will come to be regarded throughout history as a better president than he is currently given credit for. After reading the book, I don't think it really matters to him either. He made decisions based on the information he had and personal convictions. That is all you can ask for from an elected official.

The 24-hour news cycle bothers me for many reason, including it makes caricatures of our elected officials and demonizes them for ratings. I do not think Bush or Obama are the people the news makes them out to be. Above all, I enjoyed reading the book because it was his first-person account of his presidency, which we never got while he was in office.