From Compton to Congress: His Grace For My Race is Walter R. Tucker III’s autobiography about his political rise and fall in the 1990s. The book introduces us to Tucker when he was sworn into Congress, a great achievement at 35 since he was the youngest African-American to hold a congressional seat. Unfortunately, during his first term, Tucker became the focus of an FBI bribery investigation and indictment! The narration pauses on the scandal to trace Walter’s upbringing while slowly revealing the court case. Tucker comes […]
The Queen of All She Surveys
At times, as I was reading Shonda Rhimes’ memoir/self-help book Year of Yes, I found myself getting very annoyed with her. Grey’s Anatomy isn’t even that good, I’d think. She so extra. It’s the Shonda Show 24/7 with this one. Doesn’t she know how conceited she sounds? I wanted her to be more humble, more quiet. When she mentioned how she owns Thursday nights for the umpteenth time, I wanted her to apologize for her success instead of brag about it. Which is kind of […]
Scandal, No Not The TV Show
I am laughing so hard as I think of this book and what to write. Look I used to devour Amanda Quick’s older books with the one word description and usually a random object on the cover. There were some that were really good. And there were some that may be wonder about the intelligence of the hero/heroine involved. “Scandal” is definitely the latter. You have a sort of reformed rake trope taking place here (though the hero is not really a rake, he’s just […]
On marriage, betrayal, independence and forgiveness
A Thousand Pardons is a sharp-edged yet surprisingly funny view of mid-life crisis, complacency in marriage, teen-age angst, and the dramatic turns these can taken when least expected. A privileged family in suburban upstate New York suddenly discovers serious fault lines in their lives when Helen realizes that the man she married so many years ago no longer exists. Oh, Ben drives to his law practice every day, sleeps in her bed, and eats her food, but interaction with her or their adopted teenaged daughter […]