WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I can no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Madam President by Nicolle Wallace.  Charlotte Kramer, America's first woman POTUS, is in her second term. She has welcomed a CBS news crew into the White House to share "a day in the life" for 60 Minutes. She couldn't possibly have known that today would be a tragic day in American history and the most important of her Presidency.

 

I'm loving this book so far. Because President Kramer surrounds herself with powerful women and, for the most part, they get along remarkably well. I like imagining a world where badass women shape foreign policy while comparing notes on the latest from Christian Louboutin. 

 

It's not silly, exactly. But it is from a parallel universe. Madam President was published in the spring of 2016, before Donald Trump and all the MAGA divisive chaos and vulgarity. It's refreshing but also naive to consider a White House where the President and Vice President are both women and from different parties.  Female public servants who are fond of one another and serious about serving the country? Seems like a fantasy now.

2. What did you recently finish reading? Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson. This is a memoir about the author's battle with autoimmune disease, depression, and anxiety. She discusses it all  with admirable frankness and humor. And yes, I recommend it.

 

But for the compassion and candor, not the humor. While the book was funny at times, the yuks were overdone and, at least to me, often more forced than funny. Film critic Roger Ebert once said that comedies were the hardest to review because everyone's sense of humor is personal and different, so maybe the problem is me and not Jenny. But at times I simply wanted to scream at her, "Stop being Shecky Lawson and just tell your story!"

Because here's the thing: when she's not imitating Mrs. Maisel, she's genuinely touching. There was a passage in particular about her passion for saving buttons, what they mean to her, and what she hopes they will mean to whoever takes them over when she dies. It was a lovely piece of writing. I wish she did that more often.

3. What will read next? I don't know.