show us your books: april edition

Well just like that it's time again for Show Us Your Books with Steph and Jana.  I have four to share this month!

First up is Go Ask Ali by Ali Wentworth.  

At once endearing and hilarious, thoughtful and far-fetched, this third collection offers Ali at her wisest and wittiest as she delivers tips, pointers, and quips on a host of life’s conundrums and sticky situations, including the funny, sometimes embarrassing yet unforgettable situations that have shaped her inimitable world view as a wife, mother, actress, comedian, and all around bon vivant. Thoroughly entertaining, Go Ask Ali is packed with thoughts and musings from "the girlfriend you want to have a glass of wine with, the one who makes you laugh because she sees the funny and the absurd in everything"

I read Ali Wentorth's book Happily Ali After last year, and I HOWLED with laughter.  This one was fine, but wasn't nearly as laugh out loud funny.  She does have a funny take on things, which I love.  Ali Wentworth is married to George Stephanopoulos and whether or not you agree with his political opinions, he sounds like a great husband.  A lot of comedians use their marriage and their spouse as the butt of mean-spirited jokes which I think is a real bummer. Even when Ali is writing funny stories about her husband or her marriage, it's good-natured and respectful, and I really enjoyed that.  And that's not fake news.

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Next up, One Day In December.

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away.

Certain they're fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn't find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they "reunite" at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It's Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.

What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

I have been on the library waiting list for so long that I'd forgotten I even requested this book until I got the text message that it was ready for pick-up.  I started one night after dinner and before I knew it I was up way past my bedtime weighing the pros and cons of staying up until I finished the entire thing.  I ended up reading it over the course of a few days, but I was constantly looking for ten minutes here or there where I could get a chapter or two in.  I got totally sucked into the story from the very beginning, and I really liked the characters.  I didn't always agree with the decisions that they made, and it sure made me glad my love life was never even close to being this complicated, but I'd recommend it for sure.

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The third book of the month was Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies.

J. B. West, chief usher of the White House, directed the operations and maintenance of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—and coordinated its daily life—at the request of the president and his family. He directed state functions; planned parties, weddings and funerals, gardens and playgrounds, and extensive renovations; and, with a large staff, supervised every activity in the presidential home. For twenty-eight years, first as assistant to the chief usher, then as chief usher, he witnessed national crises and triumphs, and interacted daily with six consecutive presidents and first ladies, as well as their parents, children and grandchildren, and houseguests—including friends, relatives, and heads of state.

 

This was my favorite book this month.  Sarah recommended it years ago and I've been waiting and waiting for my library system to get it and they finally did.  It's written by the man who was chief usher at the White House from 1941 to 1969. I LOVED it. He writes about the first ladies, and shares little stories about them, their quirks, personalities, and their interactions with staff and the presidents.  He goes into detail about preparing for state dinners, and changing the White House over when administrations changed, about hosting guests in the residence and the first ladies' favorite hobbies and foods, and their involvement in the daily workings of the White House and the presidency. It was fascinating. It wasn't at all political, as the author said, he didn't respect one person or party more than another, he respected the office of the President of the United States. I feel like an insider now on the inner workings of the White House. Highly recommend this one!

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The final book I read was The Elephant in the Room,

The government definition of obesity is a body mass index of 30 or more. My BMI is 60.7. My shirts are size XXXXXXL, which the big-and-tall stores shorten to 6X. I’m 6-foot-1, or 73 inches tall. My waist is 60 inches around. I’m nearly a sphere.

Those are the numbers. This is how it feels…

So begins The Elephant in the Room, Tommy Tomlinson’s remarkably intimate and insightful memoir of his life as a fat man. When he was almost fifty years old, Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to change.

In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a FitBit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America’s “capital of food porn,” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take—big and small—to lose weight by the end.

I picked this up after I read about it on Michelle's blog.  It's written by a columnist who has struggled with obesity his entire life.  While his isn't a struggle I've had personal experience with, I found his story compelling. I LOVED his writing style. It was easy to read but he wrote with a lot of emotion and his writing was so genuine, honest, and vulnerable. He loves his family so much and wrote about them all so kindly. Michelle said she felt a lot of compassion when she read this and wanted to hug him, and I concur. 

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That's it for me this month! I love to read everyone's book posts with my library website open in another tab so I can make my requests! What do you recommend?