Book 12 Becoming by Michelle Obama

Becoming by Michelle Obama fulfills the “Book about a World Leader” prompt for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. Some may question my choice on this prompt. As First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Obama labored to create new programs for healthy living for children. She worked very hard to be a mother, wife, and world leader in her eight years at the White House. She’s a leader.

Believe me.

I listened to the book on audio over the past week. Being home for social distancing gave me the time to work through the narrative faster than I normally would have. I also wanted to make sure I finished the book for March, which is Women in History Month. I planned to use it in February for Black History Month, but I believe as a world leader, it fits better here in March.

I’m getting political and wanted to warn my conservative readers first. Today March 20, 2020, we are in the middle of a pandemic because of the widespread outbreak of Covid-19. I’m home from work because the library closed and am socially distancing myself because of health issues. I’m doing the best I can given the situation—two teens home and eating ALL the food and Husband ready to be sequestered at work due to his job. I’m okay. My family is okay. The country is not okay.

So, here’s the political. Listening to Mrs. Obama speak about how she and her husband worked for health care for all. Obama Care, as it was named, helped so many people throughout the country. Yes, it wasn’t perfect. But it existed. It was a step forward our country needed to take. Many other First-World countries have already instituted free health care. We needed it. And now that it’s dismantled and we are in a health crisis, we need it. Under other leadership, we would not be seeing the devastation of Covid-19. I have little hope for the near future about the disease. Unless state governments get going (I’m looking at you, Florida), we will see millions of deaths. I’m glad to live in New York, where our Governor has done some good things to help stop the spread.

End of political rant.

So the actual book.

I’m not a lover of biographies or autobiographies, but I felt this was a book I needed to read. (I try to do a few non-fiction and popular books every year to keep myself grounded in reality.) I enjoyed it for the most part. Mrs. Obama had a great speaking voice for the book. Honestly, the sections that bored me were in the White House. I wasn’t into the details of her programs and as I hoped, she did not make the book about her husband. It was a great glimpse into the political machine of the United States. How did it the woman all?

My favorite part of the book was during Barack Obama’s stint in the Illinois State Congress. Mrs. Obama had two small children and her husband was away for much of the week in Springfield. (They lived in Chicago at the time.) She struggled to raise her girls, get them to all their sports and programs, work, and still have time with her husband.

I felt that hard. Early in our marriage, well hell, our whole marriage, my husband has worked rotating shift work. He’d do twelve-hour shifts, four or five a week, usually shifting between days and nights within those sets. So two days of days, two days off, three days of nights, ad nauseam. Raising two little girls that way wasn’t easy. We discovered early, and he agreed: don’t wait for Daddy. We got through; we still get through. But it was nice to hear that I wasn’t alone. That even women who seem perfect on the outside struggle with these things. I got all the feels in that section. 

Long and short, I recommend the autobiography, if only to glimpse into an amazing woman. 

I give Becoming by Michelle Obama Five American Flags.

Book 11 Exit Strategy

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells fulfills the “Book with a with a robot, cyborg, or AI character” category of the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. It is the fourth novella in the Murderbot series. The fifth will be published this May. The new one is a full novel rather than the novella format of the first four books. I’m so excited. I can’t even tell you. I want to preorder it on audio, but it’s not an option yet.

I digress.

In this installment of the Murderbot Diaries, our hero, the reluctant, awkward killing machine, I mean, cyborg plans to end his quest to take down GrayCris for their crimes in the first novella. First, he sends the incriminating material from Book 3, Rogue Protocol, to Dr. Mensah and then, second, he gets out of Dodge. Of course, he can’t resist checking on those original charges from Book 1, All Systems Red. He cares about them but doesn’t understand why. Dr. Mensah is missing! Murderbot must find and save her. Because he loves her like a mom. He doesn’t comprehend love…yet.

Why do I love the Murderbot diaries so much? Welp, the reader for the audio is amazing. So amazing in fact, I bought the third book from Audible even though I already read it. I might listen-through again before May. He brings the cyborg to life. (See what I did there?)

Second, the story is engaging, interesting, and fun. The main character, our own Murderbot (but don’t say his name around because it’s a secret.) is one of the best sci-fi characters I have come across. Ms. Wells created a cyborg designed for the sole purpose of being a commercial bodyguard/soldier and gave him depth and breadth. He has disconnected his governor module, you know, the one that makes him a complicit robot with no will of his own and hacked it to watch videos. He didn’t free himself to murder indiscriminately, or take down the human race, or even run off to an independent, new life. Nope, he wanted to watch soap operas in peace.

Third, in the fourth book, the author used Murderbot’s lack-of-humanity to cause trouble. He’s a good guy, tries to save his clients, do the right thing, all the while seeming selfish and indifferent. But he doesn’t understand many human complexities—emotions, intentions, manipulations. He thinks going to the Milu terraforming facility will help the cause. Instead, because he’s technically Dr. Mensah’s property, it appears as if she sent him to spy. Trouble ensues. He learns, and spoiler, he saves the day.

If you are a fan of funny sci-fi, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Trilogy (that has six books), Harry Harrison’s Bill the Galactic Hero stories, or John Scalzi’s Red Shirts, this series is for you. I recommend it outright, but if you can get the audio…

I give Exit Strategy by Martha Wells Five Space Operas.

Book 10 X by Sue Grafton

X by Sue Grafton fulfills the category “Book with only Words on the Cover” for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. It’s number twenty-four in her Kinsey Millhone series. Yes, I have read all the others and plan to finish Y is for Yesterday by the end of 2020. Plus, doing X for my tenth blog is just kismet.

A dozen years ago, my stepmother introduced me to Sue Grafton. Knowing I was an avid reader and enjoyed mysteries, she recommended Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell, both authors I had never read. (If you can believe it.) I’d been reading fantasy series like Xanth, Dragon Lance, and loving every Mary Higgins Clark too. The length (short) and the direct style of the narrator appealed to me.

Since X is the twenty-fourth novel in the series, I won’t rehash the entire storyline. Ms. Grafton does that for you as she introduces Kinsey in every book, describes her business and her morning run.

In every single book.

Not looking for Pulitzer work, I enjoyed the book and the series. In X, Ms. Grafton impressed me when Kinsey said she wasn’t going to describe her morning run for the third time in the book as it was boring.

I laughed so hard. Maybe she finally got the hint. Unfortunately, there is only one more in the series and Ms. Graft passed in December of 2017.

In the story, our detective gets drawn into a mystery she’s not hired to solve. It seems she wants to put a cap on the last story where another private detective died. She picks up one of his old cases, helps his widow, and solves the whole thing.

Ms. Grafton did a great job of interweaving subplots with this book, though I thought the ending was rushed. She has the naughty neighbor subplot, another to help Pete Wolinsky’s widow, and the main dealing with an art scam. Kinsey navigates all three stories, some getting more time than others. The main plot of the stolen painting seemed to be pushed back, while the one about Pete took the spotlight. It was odd, especially since it wrapped without catching the bad guy.

And the neighbor plot. Oh dear, Ms. Grafton showed in highly digitized, painted pictures of how much research she did about water conservation. I don’t know if they were trying to reach a certain word count or if the author refused to remove some of the lengthy discussions with her landlord.

It seemed a long way around to get to the point that the elderly couple next door were stealing Henry’s water. A very long way around. But I listened to the novel on CD, and Judy Kay is a nice reader (though her old people sound like women).

Again, it’s Book Twenty-Four. I can’t ask for more.

It was a light read, great for the crummy February weather.

I give X by Sue Grafton Four Low Flush Toilet.