Books, NonFiction

Escape from Paris by Stephen Harding

Worth A Read Yes
Length 288
Quick Review Joe, an American soldier, and Yvette, a young French woman in the resistance, fall in love at Les Invalides under the most unusual circumstances during World War II.

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In front of The Water Wall in Houston, Texas. | Escape from Paris by Stephen Harding | Dress | Purse | Shoes | Earrings |
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Escape from Paris | Dress | Shoes | Purse |

Available October 8, 2019

The world has an obsession with World War II. It was a new kind of war revolutionizing economies and industries around the world. The devastation and impact it had is still remarkable. With so many history books, novels, documentaries, TV shows, movies, and more, it can be easy to forget the individuals impacted by each decision, battle, success, and failure. People won the war. People lost the war. People lived lives during the war. Stephen Harding puts faces to these stories in Escape From Paris

Harding focuses on the 94th Bomb Group, a United States Air Force unit based in England flying missions over Germany and France. 

I’m going to be completely biased, I found the French part of this story far more interesting than the American aspect. This has nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with my personal interests. As a francophile and history buff, I am drawn to the French bits. 

Joe is an American, who enlisted in the Air Force when the war began. His bomber went down over Northern France during an air raid along with several other planes. Most did not survive, but Joe and several other did. Finding the resistance they ended up in Paris at Les Invalides. 

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Georges and Denise had been the caretakers of Les Invalides for many years when the war broke out. They joined the resistance along with their daughter, Yvette. There were resistance groups working separately and together throughout Europe. This family was in a unique situation as “the “caretakers of Invalides” literally carried the keys to what was arguably one of the safest hiding places in the country” because Les Invalides had been taken over by the Germans during the Occupation, which, counterintuitively, gave this family more freedom to aide the resistance effort while housing and hiding soldiers. It was a dangerous and brilliant plan due to the fact  “the Germans never thought to search what they assumed was a completely secure facility.”

There’s a love story in Escape from Paris, but I find it the least interesting bit about this book because personal taste. I did find it a little redundant because Harding felt the need to continually point out that this is a love story and that it’s not just about war, it’s about love too. I get it. He’s building up the human aspect of the story, but it’s not that interesting. The repetition borders on frustrating. The humanity is abundantly clear in his portraits of the people inhabiting this story. They lived lives before, during, and after the war. These were people who loved each other and their country. They fought in any way they could to protect what they believed in. The love story is sweet, but it’s the least impactful part of the story. If it wasn’t in the title, I probably would have forgotten it was in the book. Joe, Denise, Georges, and Yvette were incredible and brave people standing up for what they believed in.  

Escape from Paris is riddled with historical facts, airplane terminology, logistics, and more. If you’re not familiar with these terms and this kind of history book, you’ll want Google handy. I enjoyed reading this interesting and well researched book. It’s definitely one to read if you like WWII.  

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Title: Escape From Paris; A True Story of Love and Resistance in Wartime France
Author: Stephen Harding
Publisher: De Capo Press (Hachette Book Group)
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780306922169

Books, NonFiction

101 Things I Learned in Law School by Vibeke Norgaard Martin

Worth A Read Yes
Length 216
Quick Review Everything from definitions to quotes to government makeup to what the bar actually is. 

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I would need coffee if I went to law school. | 101 Things I Learned in Law School by Vibeke Norgaard Martin | Shirt | Purse | Fossil Smart Watch | Sunglasses | Earrings |
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101 Things I Learned in Law School | Fossil Smart Watch | Purse | Sunglasses | Shirt | Ring |

There was a period of time in high school when I wanted to go to law school. The lawyers I talked with warned me away from it because they assumed I watched law dramas on TV and wanted the courtroom thing, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I didn’t even start watching law dramas until about two years ago. I liked the law because I knew it would be constant learning and researching, and I could advocate for people and women and become a judge or become an advocate or lobbyist. Vibeke Norgaard Martin hammers home the point that being a lawyer is not about being in court in 101 Things I Learned in Law School

If you’ve ever read a book that has anything to do with law or the judiciary system, most of this is not new information. Martin does break down a lot of complicated and sometimes confusing concepts, terms, ideas, and workings of the law, government, and even courtroom in his 101 Things I Learned in Law School, and he particularly focuses on the US but does speak to British and global law.  

Martin wants to make it clear that lawyers are people with prejudices, blind spots, limitations, skills, and specialties. Lawyers have areas of expertise, so consulting a corporate law attorney will not help you in divorce court. They do not know everything. Lawyers are known for having a good hold on words and manipulating language – which is a huge part of why the law has always spoken to me – but there is a difference between honesty and truth. This fact transcends law. 

For every thing learned there is a little drawing on the opposing page to demonstrate, in a usually humorous fashion, what Martin is describing. There is a sense of humor to the entire book. Even in the quotes chosen have levity, humor, and drive home the point being a lawyer is a way of thinking and it is not infallible: “There is no doubt that if there were a super-Supreme Court, a substantial proportion of our reversals of state courts would also be reversed. We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.” Robert H. Jackson. Martin goes through some of the most important cases tried in courts, and cases people should know about but probably don’t. 

101 Things I Learned in Law School talks about history, language, law, thinking, and more. It is a quick and easy book to peruse, but it’s filled with information and a lesson. I highly suggest it to anyone with a curiosity for law or wants to look smart and worldly by putting it on their coffee table. Either way, I suggest it. 

Memorable Quotes
“Honesty and truthfulness are different things.”
“In practice, the exceptions to the rule are the rule.”

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Title: 101 Things I Learned in Law School
Author: Vibeke Norgaard Martin
With: Matthew Frederick
Publisher: Three Rivers Press (Penguin Random House)
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781524762025

Books, NonFiction

How to Date Men When You Hate Men by Blythe Roberson

Worth a Read Yes
Length 272
Quick Review A humorously philosophical look into dating while being a cognizant human in this weird-ass century by a befuddled, professional twenty-something lady, who doesn’t hate men.  

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Stay away from me crazy man!
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Dating is awkward like this picture. | How to Date Men When You Hate Men by Blythe Roberson | Skirt Set | Headband |
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Kidding! We like each other 96% of the time. 

Dating, love, and relationships are weird. I think it’s always been weird, but it’s only getting weirder with technology and awareness about gender equality and all that jazz. Love has always been a topic of discussion, a point of ponderance, and the source of much pain and misery for as long as the written word has existed. Men and their thoughts have always been taken seriously. Women are still working towards that, but that didn’t stop Blythe Roberson from writing her own book on the topic. When I have a bunch of money, I will be handing out How to Date Men When You Hate Men to all my single lady friends. 

I may not completely understand or agree with all everything Blythe Roberson writes about the dating world, but that’s because we’re different ladies with different lives and different men have crossed our paths. She and I do say a lot of the same things like “53% of white women voted for Trump.” She is far better versed in pop culture references than I am, but I do love her inclusion of science, comedy, and literary references. She also mentions one of my favorite quotes by Edith Wharton in The Age of Innocence “Each time you happen to me all over again.” Bonus points.   

How to Date Men When You Hate Men has a few minor grammar errors, but they are easily overlooked. Roberson is completely open about romantic misunderstandings and how dating and men are hard. Because life and love is hard. It doesn’t get easier the older you are, but Roberson manages it with a sense of humor.

Roberson has this amazing writing style. There are moments of great depth followed by a cutting wit and silly observations. She’s smart without being pretentious and incredibly comfortable in her own brand of weird, “But there is something gratifying about being a social catastrophe.” She has long winded sentences akin to streams of consciousness bathed in humor peppered with personal anecdotes and side thoughts marked by parentheses. She writes like the 27 year old woman she is as if she’s pulling a friend into a fun conversation. How to Date Men When You Hate Men is honest, vulnerable, strong, funny, and insightful. 

I love the honesty Roberson has with her crushes, emotions, and obsessions. Although, she may have an unhealthy obsession with Timothee Chalamet… Then again, I have an unhealthy obsession with Scotland, bagpipe music, and men in kilts. So, who am I to judge. 

If dating is hard for you, read this. It won’t help you at all, but you will find a soul sister and a good many laughs between the covers of How to Date Men When You Hate Men. Even if dating isn’t hard for you or you’re happily hitched or you’re not interested in men, there are a lot of modern day funnies. 

Memorable Quotes
“though I adore men as individuals, I believe that as a group they’re systemically oppressing women.”
“It’s like trying to kiss your sweet crush while a cement mixer operated by Woody Allen is dumping raccoons on you.”

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Title: How to Date Men When You Hate Men
Author: Blythe Roberson
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 978125019421

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How to Date Men When You Hate Men | Skirt Set | Headband |
Books, NonFiction

I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum

Worth A Read Absolutely
Length 384
Quick Review Emily Nussbaum is a Pulitzer Prize winning critic. I’ve heard of her in passing, but I fell in love with her in I Like to Watch, a collection of new and published essays. 

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Reading I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum on Top Sail in North Carolina. | Bikini Bottoms | Bikini Top | Beach Towel |

I don’t read a lot of critiques because I don’t like to be influenced one way or the other, but maybe I should start reading Emily Nussbaum’s critiques because, damn, she’s spot on. After reading I Like to Watch, I am officially an Emily Nussbaum fan. 

TV is seen, by many, as a waste of time. As the work-from-home, freelancer, hermit, stay-at-home dog mom type, I’m a huge fan of TV. Other than Beau, television is my constant companion. I don’t always broadcast my love of TV, but I have always defended shows I find smart and compelling, which others tend to throw away as “girly.” Idiots. I might like Nussbaum because she bolstered my opinions, but she’s very smart and has been published in a lot of the best publications. I have watched to completion almost every show reviewed and mentioned in I Like to Watch, so maybe I need to be more productive, or maybe I should go into TV criticism… But she has a Pulitzer, and I have a blog.

Nussbaum was on her way to a doctorate when her future changed during an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer turned her into a TV critic.

Nussbaum is an amazing writer with deep insights, a sense of humor, and a complete lack of herd mentality. Her opening and closing sentences to her essays are amazing. I aspire to those kinds of clinchers. Though I Like to Watch focuses on TV, Nussbaum dives into more like the Me Too movement, Weinstein, and the fall out. Television is more than just mindless entertainment. It is a way to show people other ways of life, open minds, sway opinions, and dive into the nitty gritty. There has been a decent amount of uproar about rape depictions on TV, but representing dark and gruesome is not a bad thing, “Well drawn characters …. may be rape survivors, but that’s not where their stories stop. They’re more than their worst days.” 

I live in this world as a woman. There are some great parts about being a lady, but there are a ton of downsides. I am not represented in the media to my fullest complexity, and it is far worse for people and women of color. I have known this for awhile, but there are shows I couldn’t totally pinpoint why I didn’t like them until I read I Like to Watch. In several highly underrated shows, Nussbaum agreed with the things I’ve been saying for, well, since I saw the shows. Shows like True Detective and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel were fun but lacking in my opinion because, as Nussbaum explains, they completely lack female characters of any depth or humor or qualities making women complex entities. I liked them, but they weren’t great. I guess I like my shows to have men and women with personalities. Shows poo-pooed by friends, critics, and randos like Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are great. They are smart and funny but belittled because they’re shows for women. Fuck the patriarchy. I binged Sex and the City last year because I’d never had access to HBO, and all I’d ever heard was how girly it was. I was hooked because it showed flawed, complex women working at friendship, relationships, and their goals with really great clothes and shoes, “High-feminine instead of fetishistically masculine, glittery rather than gritty, and daring in its conception of character, Sex and the City was a brilliant, and, in certain ways, radical show.”

By the way, I fucking loved Nanette. I watched it the day it came out. Hannah Gadsby is a delight. It is a special I keep thinking about and recommending to anyone who has an interest in comedy, art history, feminism, LGBTQIA rights, or existing on this planet. 

This is not a collection of glowing critiques, but it is an honest collection. There are good, pans, and some in between. I Like to Watch is an array of previously published and new essays from Nussbaum’s career as a critic. I seriously enjoyed this one, and I keep recommending it to people. 

Memorable Quotes
“It was elitist screed, nostalgic for an America that never really existed…”
“Criticism isn’t memoir, but it’s certainly personal, so you dan consider these essays to be a portrait of me struggling to change my mind.”
“Jokes were a superior way to tell the truth – and that meant freedom for everyone.”
“…there’s a risk to Schumer’s rise: When you’re put on a pedestal, the whole world gets to upskirt you.”
“Bigotry is resilient, because rejecting it often means rejecting your own family.” 

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Man interrupting my photo shoot on a public beach. How dare he!!!

Title: I Like to Watch; Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
Author: Emily Nussbaum
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525508960

Books, NonFiction

Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen

Worth A Read Most Definitely
Length 336
Quick Review The 80s saw a comedic revolution, and there were several men at the center of that revolution.

Reading Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen on a gravel road in Old Town Spring, Texas| Skirt Set | Purse | Fringe | Shoes | Watch

I grew up on 80s comedies. Steve Martin’s SNL skits were performed by a twelve year old me in the hallways of my church for a captive audience of my peers who were less educated on comedy of years past. I was introduced to Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, The Jerk, Coming to America, National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, and a plethora of other classic comedies long before I understood most of the jokes. None-the-less, I grew up laughing to the humor of Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and the other comics gracing the pages of Nick de Semlyen’s Wild and Crazy Guys.

If you don’t know anything about the comedy scene or the people inhabiting it during the 80s, look no further than Wild and Crazy Guys. Nick de Semlyen peeks into the revolutionarily funny period that gave the world movies, like Stripes and Animal House.

I was literally laughing out loud reading this. It’s such a great look into the backstory of some of the most influential movies in my life. I don’t know if I should be proud how much these men and movies influenced me, but they did. Thanks, Dad.

Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen | Skirt Set | Purse | Fringe | Shoes | Watch

Wild and Crazy Guys starts with an iconic but not for laughs fight in the SNL dressing room between Murray and Chase. It sets the tone of how funny these men were while also reminding people how serious, driven, and a little crazy they were about comedy and their careers. de Semlyen goes into great detail about the things going on in the comics personal lives and the behind the scenes of the movies and shows. I appreciate how well researched the book was and included anecdotes, quotes, experiences, reviews, and more from contemporaries and historians.

For as funny as these men and their movies are, there is a dark side to fame and comedy. de Semlyen does not shy away from talking about drugs, alcohol, partying, and fame, including John Belushi’s overdose and Doug Kenney’s controversial death.

I can’t suggest Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen more. It is definitely not for everyone. If comedy is your jam, pick this one up. You won’t regret it. I promise.

Memorable Quotes
“…Candy argue passionately that it should be cut entirely, believing it was sexist and designed to make him look like a pig in a sty.” About the wrestling with topless women scene in Stripes.
“…since Murray believed all good things came from difficult conditions.”

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Title: Wild and Crazy Guys
Author: Nick de Semlyen
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781984826640

Books, NonFiction

The Stonewall Reader

Worth A Read Definitely
Length 336
Quick Review A moving and brilliant collection of stories from before, during, and after Stonewall. 

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The Stonewall Reader | White Jumpsuit | Striped Tote | Nude Heels | Pearl Bracelet | Sunglasses

I didn’t know much about the Stonewall riots before this month, but I have done some reading and researching to learn more about this event and others in American history. Today is the fiftieth anniversary of this monumental event. I love a good anthology, and The Stonewall Reader edited by The New York Public Library is inspiring. 

The Stonewall Inn was a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village in New York City. It was owned by the Mafia and was home to some of the most marginalized among the LGBTQIA community. It was a popular haunt for drag queens, transgender people, lesbians, gays, and everything in between. The Stonewall Riot started in the early morning on June 28, 1969 and lasted until July 1. It was not the first incident nor was it the last. Stonewall was a turning point in American history for LGBTQIA’s fight for rights. The Stonewall Reader strives to capture the spirit and emotions of the times and people leading up to, during, and following the Stonewall Riots. 

It’s hard to write reviews of anthologies because there are so many different writers, voices, opinions, and things to say. Looking at The Stonewall Reader in its entirety, it is wonderful. The book is a tapestry of opinions, feelings, insights, and vantage points. I absolutely loved reading it, and would highly suggest it to anyone wanting to know more about the Stonewall Riots, gay rights, or just American history. 

Memorable Quotes
“Lesbians were probably the only Black and white women in New York City in the fifties who were making any real attempt to communicate with each other…” Audre Lorde Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
“The money which I got in exchange for sex was a token indication of one-way desire: that I was wanted enough to be paid for, on my own terms.” John Rechy City of Night 

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Title: The Stonewall Reader
Edited: The New York Public Library
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780143133513