Books

Book Review: Fire and Fury

So I finally got around to finishing Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.  I wanted to finish this before I started Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear, and April Ryan’s Under Fire,  I purchased Fire and Fury when it came out in January, but it was hard to read because it seemed too real.  I had to put it down a few times because it was too depressing.  It also confirmed what I always thought: Donald Trump is utterly incompetent and way in over his head being president.

Of course, we are reminded of his incompetence every day, but here are some highlights I got out of the book that should scare everyone:

  • Roger Ailes is alleged to have said that Trump had “no political beliefs or backbone.”
    No one thought Trump had a chance of becoming president.  On election day, the Trump campaign was prepared to lose.Trump campaign worker Sam Nunberg had to explain the Constitution to Trump.
  • While on a plane ride, Trump said of himself when he asked about what white trash was: “They are people just like me, only they’re poor.”
  • Trump said life is worth living when you get your friend’s wife in bed.
  • A passage from the book: “He had somehow won the race for president, but his brain seems incapable of performing what would be essential tasks in his new job.  He had no ability to plan and organize and pay attention and switch focus; he had never been able to tailor his behavior to what the goals at hand reasonably required.  On the most basic level, he simply could not link cause and effect.” – No sh*t!
  • Another passage: “The new politics was not the art of the compromise but the art of conflict.”
  • Tillerson, Murdoch and pretty much the rest of the administration thinks he is a moron.

This is your president. I don’t know if I have the energy to read Bob Woodward’s new book, which is Fire and Fury Part 2.

 

Book Review: How To Love A Jamaican

I loved this book!

Alexia Arthur’s debut book of amazing short stories was one of my favorite books this year. She is such a great writer. Each story deals with the different identities represented in the Jamaican diaspora. One of the common themes in the stories is the important role of Jamaican mothers, aunts, and grandmothers in families. My maternal grandmother died when my mother was still a child, so she was raised by her grandmother. My mom would always say that she is the woman she is today because of her grandmother.

In “Bad Behavior,” Arthurs discusses the complicated relationship that occurs when a couple sends their teenage daughter to be raised by her grandmother in Jamaica to try to tame her sexually aggressive or “slack” ways. In “Mash Up,” the protagonist tries to find out why his mother has a more supportive relationship with his ne’er-do-well twin brother than with him, who has lived a more outstanding life.

The first story, “Light-skinned Girls and Kelly Rowland,” struck a nerve.  The black women only dated white men and only used black men to make their ex-white boyfriends jealous.  I have heard this story way too many times in my life.  I actually knew a couple of Jamaican women like this when I was in college…

The last story, “Shirley from a Small Place,” feels more like the story of Rihanna, who is from Barbados.  It is about a rock star who deals with her famous life in America but goes home to Jamaica, where her mother still sees her as just her daughter.

The whole book was awesome, and I highly recommend it!

When Bobby Met Jimmy

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I always wondered why there hadn’t been a book about the infamous1963 meeting with then-Attorney-general Robert F. Kennedy, writer James Baldwin and other noted black and white entertainers, writers, and activists.  I am glad Michael Eric Dyson took on the task of telling the story and putting it in perspective with current events.

A little background here: In 1963 James Baldwin had become the country’s leading black public intellectual.  While he had written many books and articles on race over the previous decade, his seminal book, The Fire Next Time, made him into a household name. Kennedy, who had briefly met Baldwin previously, wanted to strategize on improving race relations, but he didn’t want to meet with official talking heads for civil rights groups like Dr. King and Whitney Young of the Urban League.

In May 1963 Kennedy invited to his New York home to have this race discussion Baldwin, as well as other influential African Americans including Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Lorraine Hansberry, and a young Freedom Rider named Jerome Smith.

If Kennedy had hoped that these prominent blacks would partake in the politics of respectability, he was sadly mistaken.  The conversation went downhill very quickly when  Smith said he would never join the military to fight in Cuba in light of the racism blacks deal with in America.  Kennedy became indignant and called him unpatriotic.

Sounds familiar?

When I read this, it instantly reminded me of the current conversation around athletes taking the knee when the national anthem is played before a game.  Trump and others think that doing this is unpatriotic and don’t understand the full context of this protest.  The athletes are not disrespecting the flag, our country, or our military; they are protesting the racial injustices still happening in this country.  Specifically, they are protesting the shootings of unarmed black people, like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.  They are also protesting in support of Eric Garner, who was choked to death, and Kalief Browder, a young man who killed himself but was mentally killed by the criminal justice system.

Kennedy was also mixing up this sense of duty to this country and the racial realities of why black people would question these allegiances. He also hoped the other more “respectable” blacks in the room would speak up and make more sense.  But that didn’t happen.  According to Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry said, “You’ve got a great many very, very accomplished people in this room, Mr. Attorney General. But the only man who should be listened to is that man over there,” referring to Smith.

After the meeting, Kennedy was so mad at what just happened that he ordered the FBI to increase surveillance on all the meeting attendees, as well as Dr. King.  Kennedy, an Irish man who became a privileged white man, couldn’t understand why they were so angry and why they would talk to him that way.  His privilege and naivety put invisible blinders on him.  I do recall from reading in The Fire Next Time, that Kennedy said at that time that it would take 40 years for this country to elect a black president.  His white privilege couldn’t show him how offensive it was to say this.

However, It seems that over time, Kennedy did have a change of heart on race issues, but when will the other folks with white privilege take off their blinders?

 

 

Taking a Reading Vacation

beach readingI was talking to my friend Cathy the other day about her summer plans.  She said she was stressed that she wasn’t able to organize a vacation this year because of her kids and a new job, and her work is going to get even more hectic after Labor Day.  She was hoping to finish some books that have been collecting dust on her kitchen table.

“Why don’t you take a reading vacation?” I told her.

“I am only going to have three days off in August,” she replied. “How would I do that?”

I’m glad you asked! A reading vacation can be as long or short as you want and you don’t have to travel to a faraway place to do it. You can go to the park or beach for the day or be in a quiet space in your library or even in your home for a couple of hours.  As much as I advocate for printed books, sometimes a Kindle Paperwhite or the Kindle app on your phone is more convenient for reading on the go. I get through a lot of books on my phone while traveling on Amtrak, a plane, or even just on the subway or bus around town.

But if you want a tech-free reading experience, go with printed books.  I know a woman who gives a Christmas gift to herself every year and books a room at a fancy hotel overlooking a pretty beach just to read books.  Along with her books, she also brings wine and her favorite robe to lounge in.  She has food delivered to her room, and she only checks her email once a day.

I wasn’t able to get away on vacation this summer either, but I did spend my few free days sitting on my favorite bench in a park for a couple of hours catching up on some reading.

A reading vacation is ultimately not about the physical location, but rather the mental location a book takes you.  So if you are still bummed about not going anywhere this summer, books are always good and cheaper alternatives.

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