The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt

When I was young I used to proudly wear Gloria Vanderbilt's name on my tush!!  I know Anderson Cooper as the only guy on CNN I have any respect for (as an aside I think that they are only slightly better than Fox New). But until I saw this book I had no idea that there were mother and son. So I grabbed a copy and I am so glad I did.

For a year, starting just after Gloria's 91st first birthday to just before her 92nd, the two talk to each other by writing to each other. She opens up to him about the nasty custody battle that left her dubbed the "Poor Little Rich Girl" and the harm that her mother's lifestyle before and after the custody fight did to her. She tells him all about her relationships throughout the years. They talk honestly and openly about the death of her husband/his father Wyatt Cooper and the suicide of son/brother Carter right in front of Gloria. A year of growth and growing closer, of getting to know these two public figures in a real and open way, is what takes place between the covers of The Rainbow Comes and Goes.  


I was charmed from page one with Anderson and Gloria and even though I knew the outcome of her early years I found myself rooting for someone to come help her. The tragedies of her life are now so far behind her that she feels removed enough to not feel those hurts and more. That she held on to such a hopeful outcome on life given her history is beautiful and amazing. Anderson has a different view of life and optimism, hope, and pessimism shaped by the death of his father and later his brother. But they share these ideas and out looks with each other with so much love, honestly, and tenderness even when they disagree that is impossible to stop yourself from falling in love with them.

(Finished May 28, 2016)

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

Families can be wonderful and full of love and everything sweet, it can be unicorns shitting rainbows all the time. But that isn't the story here.

Here is what I believe lives under the surface of all those perfect looking families at the beach or park or out to dinner....Family is ugly and messy, full of secrets and unspoken pain, even when there is love at the heart of it.

The Whitshank family is laid bare here, they fight, they hide things from each others and themselves.

A Spool of Blue Thread starts out as the story of Red and his wife Abby and their children, but there is a thread that runs through it, the story of Red's parents and the house Red and Abby have lived in and raised their family in.

They have two sons and two daughters. Abby is a social worker who invites strays home for dinner. Red and their son Stem run the business that was his father's. The girls have their husbands and children and work. Then there is Denny. He is the piece that seems to not fit in the puzzle that is the Whitshanks. What does Denny do when he is on one of his absences from the family? Is he the favorite or the squeakiest wheel?

Anne Tyler writes a painful yet beautiful story and the blue thread ties up nicely in the end.

(Finished May 24, 2016)

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

I love the Major and Mrs. Ali. They live on the page and felt so real and I loved them!! They are so very human, they are flawed but strive to do better and to love.


Major Pettigrew's Last Stand tells the tale of two "mature" people who find that time is a precious thing and not to be wasted and who know that while yes people make mistakes it is what they do in the wake of them is a lot more important the the mistake itself. And that love is a gift not to be wasted.


The English landscape is almost as much a character in this story as the people are. While in less capable hands the lesson of tolerance and kindness to others regardless of color or religion might come across as preachy in Simonson's it is a wind that blows across the lives of the residents of the story at times gentle but at other times like a hurricane but it is never eye roll worthy, it is just a fact of the life these people are living. And even our charming Major falls prey to the weakness of judgmental behavior.


I was charmed and I think you will be too. Also, I could imagine the Major and Harold Fry being friends and playing chess together.

(Finished May 21, 2016)

And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East by Richard Engel

Richard Engel brings to his writing the same conversational, smart, and sometimes snarky tone that he brings to his news reports. While not a long book, its 219 pages are incredibly full of insight, history, and first hand accounts of what he has seen on the ground in the Middle East over the span of 20 years. 

First as a print journalist then as a TV news correspondent Engel immersed himself in life in Egypt at the start of his career, learning Arabic and educating himself on the history and culture of the people he was living among and reporting on. Many know him as the NBC corespondent who was kidnapped and held for 5 days but continued to report on the region he had become so knowledgeable about. He isn't presenting a partisan teller of tales, he places both praise and critique where he sees it regardless of party affiliation. 

If you have any interest about events in the Middle East, want to know about the formation and rise of ISIS, and want to know some of the history of the Sunni-Shia relations Engel gives a good deal of of this in an easy to follow way. 

The events in the Middle East over the last two decades, from the 1997 massacre of tourists at the Cairo museum to the arrests of Mubarak and Morsi, from the second Intifada to the fall of leaders like Saddam in Iraq and Gaddafi in Libya, Engel has had a first hand view and tells the stories he as he witnessed them. 

(Finished May 17, 2016)

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Back in 2012 I read Ruta's book Between Shades of Gray and was very moved by it. I got another moving experience this time around.


Salt to the Sea is another moving read. Something done well here is telling a story in different voices and from different points of view and not muddying the voices. Each voice stays consistent and strong.

We get a brief glimpse of what it was like for those fleeing the Russians but not wanting to get caught by Nazis either. We follow Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred and in their stories we learn about them as they learn about each other as well as Eva, the Poet, and the Wandering boy.

As the characters (except Alfred who is already there) move towards the port hoping to get on a ship and taken to safety the ship Wilhelm Gustloff becomes almost a character in the tale of the people you start to feel for. It is a heartbreaking tale about a piece of WWII lore that comes to life through these very human and hurting people.

(Finished May 8, 2016)

United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good by Cory Booker

I had the wonderful experience to see Cory Booker in person twice. The first time was at the The Edward Kennedy Institute for The United States Senate where I was able to have a chance to speak to him in front of the audience, which included Victoria Kennedy, Teddy's widow. This led to another interaction at the table where he was signing books. I told him I was going to a Get Out The Vote event with Congressman Jim McGovern that he was going to the next day and Senator Booker said he would love to meet my kids at this event and asked if I could bring them. Well obviously this was a request I was in no position to revise and so I took them with me.

Well I finally finished my class reading and have been able to read the Senator's book and now it makes perfect sense to me, that he would ask to meet my children. He cares. He cares about people and wants to help make sure the world better. He has been moved and changed by so many people who have come into his life. Starting with his work in law school which led him to live, not in the comfortable suburb he grew up in but in Newark public housing. He has given much of himself to those he has served both as volunteer and as elected official. Is he prefect? No, of course not, but he doesn't pretend to be, in fact he is open about mistakes he has made. 

He is inspiring and worth us, the people served by Congress, supporting him, even if we don't like in NJ. 

Please check out the video I linked above and check out the interaction between him and me. Then read this book. 

(Finished April 30, 2016)

The Terrible Two: Get Worse by Jory John and Mac Barnett (written by Joshua)

The Terrible Two Get Worse is a long anticipated sequel about how Miles and Niles' (friend sand fellow pranksters who met in the first book) position as greatest pranksters in Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy (school Miles and Niles go to) is challenged by the new principal, Bertrand Barkin, father of previous principal, Barry Barkin. Miles and Niles are outraged. As Miles tries to bring back Barry, Niles loses his mind trying to prank this new Barkin.


While the first book was mostly based around introducing new characters and requires patience until we know everything about any of the main characters, this book is quick to jump straight into the story and doesn't look back. It is the type of fast paced comedy kids and adults alike will love.


Check out the writer's (Joshua) blog