What I’m Reading

Red Sparrow: A Novel by Jason Matthews (one of my book clubs’ next book selections that I just finished) - A sexy, well-written spy thriller with a savvy, tough female protagonist.  Each chapter ends with a recipe for a Russian dish mentioned in the narrative.  Delicious? Distracting? You decide, but prepare to “salivate”!

The Principal’s Chair: Who Sits There Matters, A Secret of School Success by Dr. Judith D. Knotts - Friend and book club sister Lynn Meredith introduced me to Dr. Judith Knotts and since I am curious, I researched her and discovered her book, which is on the stack of “to reads” weighing down my bedside table. Judith was formerly the Head of School at St. Gabriel’s here in Austin, and is a columnist with the Austin American Statesman. I have grown to know her as one of the most thoughtful (in every way) people I know. The following description is excerpted from amazon.com, where you can purchase her book: In today’s educational system, a lot of attention has been given to the skills a school principal should have to be successful, but there is little focus on the person that the principal should be. The school’s head administrator as a person is at the core of school improvement and, as a result, student development. Judith D. Knotts draws from her years of experience as a school leader to provide powerful insight into multiple aspects of what it takes to be an effective principal. From the first chapter, “Beginning the Leadership Journey,” to the last, “Honoring the Leadership Position,” this insightful book provides a conceptual and practical guide to help principals set priorities, establish credibility, and strengthen leadership skills. 

Texas Tales: Stories That Shaped a Landscape and a People by Myra Hargrave McIlvain - This book is one of several by award-winning author, book club sister and good friend Myra McIlvain. If educators used books like Myra’s to teach history, kids would have a more realistic and accurate context from which to understand and build personal and family culture, which ultimately and collectively influences global culture.  The following description is excerpted from amazon.com, where you can purchase Myra’s book. These tales trace the Texas story, from Cabeza de Vaca who trekked barefoot across the country recording the first accounts of Indian life, to impresarios like Stephen F. Austin and Don Martín DeLeon who brought settlers into Mexican Texas. There are legendary characters like Sally Skull who had five husbands and may have killed some of them, and Josiah Wilbarger who was scalped and lived another ten years to tell about it. Also included are the stories of Shanghai Pierce, cattleman extraordinaire, who had no qualms about rounding up other folks' calves, and Tol Barret who drilled Texas first oil well over thirty years before Spindletop changed the world. The Sanctified Sisters got rich running a commune for women, and millionaire oilman Edgar B. Davis gave away his money as fast as he made it… all these characters and many more… who created the patchwork called Texas.

Men in Green Faces: A Novel of U.S. Navy Seals by Gene Wentz and B. Abell Jurus Because it's a novel, the truth can be told. Because it's the truth, you'll never forget it.. (Description excerpted from amazon.com) Gene Wentz's Men in Green Faces is the classic novel of Vietnam that inspired a generation of SEALs. Here is the story of a good soldier trained to be part of an elite team of warriors—and of the killing grounds where he was forever changed. In this stunning novel, former SEAL Gene Wentz brings to life what it was like to be a SEAL in Vietnam, running an endless tour of top-secret, death-defying operations deep in enemy territory.

Like I Used to Dance: A Novel by Barbara Frances (Description excerpted from amazon.com) Our kids, my, my, Gracie, where did we go wrong? One marries God, another a Jew, and the last one, the devil!" Texas, 1951. The Wolanskys—Grace, Bud and their three grown children—are a close-knit clan, deeply rooted in their rural community and traditional faith. On their orderly farm, life seems good and tomorrow always holds promise. But under the surface, it’s a different story. Barbara Frances’ sparkling, richly human novel takes you back to a time when Ike was president and life was slower. You’ll encounter a cast of characters storm-tossed by change, held together by love.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (Description excerpted from amazon.com) The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.  Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family—which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years. 

The Wild Oats Project by Robin Rinaldi (Description excerpted from amazon.com) The project was simple: Robin Rinaldi, a successful magazine journalist, would move into a San Francisco apartment, join a dating site, and get laid. Never mind that she already owned a beautiful flat a few blocks away, that she was forty-four, or that she was married to a man she'd been in love with for eighteen years. What followed-a year of abandon, heartbreak, and unexpected revelation-is the topic of this riveting memoir. Monogamous and sexually cautious her entire adult life, Rinaldi never planned on an open marriage-her priority as she approached midlife was to start a family. But when her husband insisted on a vasectomy, something snapped. During the week, she would live alone, seduce men (and women), attend erotic workshops, and have wall-banging sex. On the weekends, she would go home and be a wife.
(For more of what I'm reading, click on read more below)


Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari After enjoying “Sapiens,” reviewed above so, I had to read Harari’s sequel, which is proving to be similarly chocked full of profundities. (Description excerpted from amazon.com) In this book, the author examines our future with his trademark blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here. And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers. This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. War is obsolete You are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in conflict Famine is disappearing You are at more risk of obesity than starvation Death is just a technical problem Equality is out; but immortality is in What does our future hold?

Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West by Christopher Knowlton (Description excerpted from amazon.com) The open range cattle era lasted barely a quarter-century, but it left America irrevocably changed. These few decades following the Civil War brought America its greatest boom-and-bust cycle until the Depression, the invention of the assembly line, and the dawn of the conservation movement. It inspired legends, such as that icon of rugged individualism, the cowboy. Yet this extraordinary time and its import have remained unexamined for decades. Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today.

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben (Description excerpted from amazon.com) Are trees social beings? In this international bestseller, forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. After learning about the complex life of trees, a walk in the woods will never be the same again.

Miracle Cure: The Creation of Antibiotics and the Birth of Modern Medicine by William Rosen (Description excerpted from amazon.com) As late as the 1930s, virtually no drug intended for sickness did any good; doctors could set bones, deliver babies, and offer palliative care. That all changed in less than a generation with the discovery and development of a new category of medicine known as antibiotics. By 1955, the age-old evolutionary relationship between humans and microbes had been transformed, trivializing once-deadly infections. William Rosen captures this revolution with all its false starts, lucky surprises, and eccentric characters.  Organizing that research needs large, well-funded organizations and businesses, and so our entire scientific-industrial complex, built around the pharmaceutical company, was born. Timely, engrossing, and eye-opening, Miracle Cure is a must-read science narrative—a drama of enormous range, combining science, technology, politics, and economics.

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon & the Journey of a Generation  by Sheila Weller (Description excerpted from amazon.com) A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America’s most important musical artists—Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon—charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation—female version—but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché.

Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirshman (Description excerpted from amazon.com) The relationship between Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—Republican and Democrat, Christian and Jew, western rancher’s daughter and Brooklyn girl—transcends party, religion, region, and culture. Strengthened by each other’s presence, these groundbreaking judges, the first and second to serve on the highest court in the land, have transformed the Constitution and America itself, making it a more equal place for all women. Sisters-in-Law combines legal detail with warm personal anecdotes that bring these very different women into focus as never before.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Description excerpted from amazon.com) Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award - Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. 

The Train to Crystal City: FDR's Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America's Only Family Internment Camp During World War II by Jan Jarboe Russell (Description excerpted from amazon.com) The New York Times bestselling dramatic and never-before-told story of a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II. The Train to Crystal City reveals the war-time hysteria against the Japanese and Germans in America and the secrets of FDR’s tactics to rescue high-profile POWs in Germany and Japan.

Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur (Description excerpted from amazon.com) Called "disgraceful," "third-rate," and "not nice" by Donald Trump, NBC News correspondent Katy Tur reported on—and took flak from—the most captivating and volatile presidential candidate in American history. Katy Tur lived out of a suitcase for a year and a half, following Trump around the country, powered by packets of peanut butter and kept clean with dry shampoo. She visited forty states with the candidate, made more than 3,800 live television reports, and tried to endure a gazillion loops of Elton John’s "Tiny Dancer"—a Trump rally playlist staple.  From day 1 to day 500, Tur documented Trump’s inconsistencies, fact-checked his falsities, and called him out on his lies. In return, Trump repeatedly singled Tur out. He tried to charm her, intimidate her, and shame her. At one point, he got a crowd so riled up against Tur, Secret Service agents had to walk her to her car.  None of it worked. Facts are stubborn. So was Tur. She was part of the first women-led politics team in the history of network news.