Commander in Cheat

I couldn't put this book down. Amazon delivered it yesterday afternoon and I spent all evening at my local watering hole devouring this book. I've never picked up a golf club or been a fan of Donald Trump but I've read books on both topics and this book takes the cake. Rick Reilly uses golf's Trump techniques (cheating and lying) to explain his terrible practices in office. Trump has been a notorious cheater in golf for decades, something he can't argue against; it's on film, hundreds of athletes, celebrities, and politicians will attest to it, he's admitted it, and his caddies joke that "Trump doesn't cheat... because we do it for him." Trump boasts that he's won 18 golf tournaments, although not ONE can be verified (16 are easy to disprove). He usually bullies course managers to put his name up on the trophy plaques because he "plays better than most other players all the time (most tournaments he never even played in!). Reilly then elaborates on Trump's business practices: specifically with his golf courses (lawsuits galore), his fight against paying contractors in full, and his failure to ban any Muslim countries that he had golf interests in. The book also discusses all presidents and their attachment (or lack thereof) to golf and how it influenced their presidential terms. "Obama wound up playing 306 rounds in office, or once every 9.5 days. Trump is on pace to, over eight years, to obliterate Obama's number - 759 rounds, which goes to show you that bone spurs do heal very nicely." The humor, the insight, the golfing parallels, and the writing make this book a showstopper. It was eye opening and golf was the perfect lens to view Trump and his "ethics" through. "In life, we're defined by the obstacles we overcome. That's the stuff we hang on our inner wall. But if you cheat to get around those obstacles, you never know the thrill of actually beating them. It's like buying a trophy in a pawn shop. You can shine it up and show it off and pretend you won it, but when you get close to it, it only reflects the face of a loser." make this book your most read political/sports book of 2019!

Men in Green

For someone with little golf knowledge, this book was at times tedious. That being said, I still learned a lot about many different players, feuds, has beens, legends, caddies and more. It was like taking a peak into a boys club and discovering they're gossiping just as much as the women! At times it felt a little gossipy, who was flirty with women, who had the most sex appeal, who refused to let go of a grudge, who didn't take care of his ex-wife, who didn't like Tiger Woods (a lot more people than I thought). Sports author, Michael Bamberger made a list of the 18 greatest golf legends and set out to drive around and interview them all. The front nine were living legends (Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Mickey Wright, etc.) and the back nine were "secret" legends (caddies, writers, aficionados, no pros). He road-trips along with his good friend Mike Donald (a golf pro and one of the living legends on his list) and they hobnob with the old golf crowd. Lies, legends, humor, and memories are shared and pieced together throughout the book. Interesting read, but not my favorite golf book.

Potted and Pruned

I ADORED this book. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't exactly have a green thumb. I mean, hell, we have the world's smallest yard and by default the world's smallest garden. That being said, the past few years John and I have really enjoyed getting a vegetable garden going (cherry tomatoes are the best part of summer) and I even keep a few plants inside year round (not too many because cats are demons). Even if I didn't have a garden though, I think I would have enjoyed this book. It was quick and humorous and I read it in one sitting. Written as a collection of short vignettes, essays, thoughts, and letters; Potted and Pruned is a reaffirmation of the love, joy, frustration, and comedy that can be found in gardening. It made me laugh out loud on several occasions and it made me inspired to go out and start working on this summer's vegetable patch. A small enjoyable book that gardeners will keep coming back to. I can't wait to read the next two in the series!

The Future is Feminist

So I really enjoyed some aspects of this book and hated others. The main thing I hated..... was the damn font color! The neon orange was damn near impossible to read, it literally hurt my eyes. When the text was in pink it was "ok" to read, but it was mainly frustrating. Other than that, I really enjoyed the variety of feminist voices and stories shared in this compilation.Some feminist writers I had heard of but never read, others were brand new to me. This collection is empowering and superbly well written. I liked that it included a variety of formats (speeches, poems, essays, etc.), diversity, and feminist text from not just several decades, but from several centuries. They made sure that feminism included not just the middle class white women, but females from all of the world, in different financial circumstances, ages, and ethnicity.  The collection ranged from calls to action, empowerment, humor, and educational. A great read in a horribly formatted book.

Walking Dead: Book Fifteen

Dayum! A lo happens in this installment. Not only do we need a spunky new character, we meet a whole damn new community! Rick is still reeling from the loss of Andrea, Carl is still pining after his new little girlfriend leaving poor Sophia behind in the dust, Maggie may have a new fuck buddy, Jesus and Aaron are officially out and open, and Neegan is out on his own with permission from Rick. Hilltop is slowly rebuilding after the devastation from the last book and a small group of people from Alexandria ride out to meet the people that Eugene has been talking to on the radio for weeks. All in all, there are a lot of plot lines, a lot of action, and it's damn fun! I especially love Princess, the wild girl they encounter in the city. She reminds me a lot of Tank Girl. Another great installment and I feel like it may be leading us up to a conclusion? Probably not, but you never know!

Meal

A short quick graphic novel that explores a young foodie wanting share her love of insect based foods with the world. Yarrow moves to a new town where she hears a insect based restaurant will be opening soon. She interviews with the head chef, but the chef is wary that Yarrow doesn't fully appreciate their food traditions and just wants to exploit it or turn it into a fad. Not only does Yarrow have to win over the chef, she has to win over one of her new neighbors and friends. She's pretty sure sparks are flying between them but what if she's wrong? An interesting look at food, culture, and romance all told through the lens of a short, well illustrated graphic novel.

Blood Orange

So fast paced! I managed to read this in one day (while also working an 8 hour shift!) and I could not put it down. This managed to be just like all the other unreliable female thriller novels, while actually being it's own new thing. You have a female lead who, while reliable, is a major alcoholic. She's also a barrister in London bringing home the big bucks while her husband works part time as a sex psychiatrist and raises their six year old daughter. The wife starts an affair, drinks too much, and is an all around shit parent and spouse. She should care more about her home life but she's wrapped up in her new murder case and her affair with Patrick. Things slowly start to spiral out of control and before long the reader can barely keep up with the fast pace. It's tense, and although you don't really like any of the characters you want everything to be resolved and you want that happy ending. As the pace speeds up, so does the readers suspicions. It was great, and there was a twist at the end I should have seen coming.