Review 107: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finally read this classic. It's been on my to read list forever. I knew the general story, and it didn't end well, so that made me reluctant to pick it up. Finally I did. It's a powerful short novella. No wonder it is one of Steinbeck's more known work. Amazing writing!

Review 106: Why David Sometimes Wins

Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement by Marshall Ganz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Somewhat dry at times. Good history of union organizing with the farm workers, mainly in the mid 60's. I had no idea at times the different unions were fighting against each other, particularly against the Teamsters.

The end of the book jumped forward quickly. Would have liked more there. The main difficulty with the book overall was the generalizations of what happened. There were moments of specifics, but more of that, more of a story, would have made for a better book. Felt more text book like than I was looking for. But I did get a history. Probably should have read this book in March when California celebrates Cesar Chavez day. I will think of this book during the next March holiday, now that I know more about how Chavez helped organize the farm workers.

Review 105: The Unexpected Spy

The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists by Tracy Walder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fascinating book into the world of the CIA by a woman (see Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA). This book was a page turner, it was difficult to put down when I had other things I needed to do, like sleep.

Yet sometimes the stories were left incomplete. Walder is hunting for specific information or a certain person of interest, then that story line is dropped. Not always, as sometimes we know where it ends, but a few times we are left without knowing what happened. It seems simple enough to state, we got what we needed, or we weren’t successful. But instead we’re left in the dark. The redactions did not help. I understand the need for security, keeping details hidden, yet I felt the redactions left in the book made it more of a nuisance. Why not change the names further, or remove entirely? Walder provides a reason in the beginning on why it was left in, to maintain continuity, but it didn't work for me, seemed unnecessary to leave in black lines.

Despite these pitfalls, the book had an overall theme, about women in the intelligence community. Often women were not treated with respect, many times from other countries, but when Walder got into the FBI it was definitely from her own, although much of it stemmed from her being in the CIA. In any case, her experience helped her grow into a strong woman. Without giving away the book entirely, I will say the choices Walder made later in life were logical choices.

As I started earlier, this was a fascinating book. Despite redactions and generalizations, you do get an idea of what working in the CIA may be like, what hard work it is. And we see how much the agency does to keep people safe from terrorist plots anywhere in the world. It is real life intelligence work, and it’s a enthralling read.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance review copy of this book.

Review 104: Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World

Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World by David Owen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fantastic book all about hearing. The author, David Owen did an excellent job with research and writing. While the book does not go into far depth, it does cover many aspects. We also get Owen's own personal experience with family member's hearing issues, and his own.

Nearly each chapter in reading I felt like saying, oh this is my favorite chapter. I did this several (many) times. It's hard to pick which section and information I found most fascinating or helpful.

The one thing that I felt was lacking in the book was having a section for more in-depth research or the references that Owen used, besides talking with other people. There are chapter by chapter notes, but a suggested reading list would been a great addition.

All in all a book well worth reading, and for anyone and everyone.

Review 103: Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis

Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In preparing to write this review I made some notes, three pages of notes. It got out of hand. The main take away in my note taking was how much I saw myself in the book, and how much I did not. Yes, I’m a woman of Generation X and do have trouble sleeping sometimes. This book is not about how to find solutions to that problem. Instead it gives us many reasons why mid-life women of GenX are having difficulties. There’s a lot of comparison to other generations: previous one, Boomers as parents, and the kids, as Millennials. We also have some comparisons on how male mid-life crises differ from women.

For the most part, I did enjoy reading the book, as it brought up reasons why this generation did things as they have so far, with parenting, or choosing not to have kids. The delays in marriage and how our prospects, in general, were the first to be expected to be worse than the parents. Some topics seemed to have never been mentioned before (or at least in mainstream consciousness). Yet this book doesn’t cover everything for all women born in the years of roughly 1967-1980. One of the most glaring to me was this book is mostly about middle class women, especially those who graduated college. There are a few nods to people outside that area, but not much.

The last chapter was one that tried to sum up and find personal solutions. I think for the author, she did find ways to cope better and enjoy life more. Hopefully the book will help other women of this era, and maybe a few outside of the targeted demographic.


Thanks to Grove Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.