Book 26: Secretary of the City by Lee Navlen

 I just finished Secretary of the City and I give it ★★★★1/2.  It's a novella that is basically a diary of a Secretary to a wealthy man who runs some type of vague foundation. The story covers two weeks when 1. the man's wife walked away from a plane crash and then pretended that she wasn't on the plane and 2. the man's father-in-law decides to run for President. It's a story about the people who support the wealthy family and it's pretty funny but somewhat ridiculous. You can probably read this is an hour.

Book 25: Then we get to the end by Joshua Ferris

 I just finished Then We Get to the End and I give it ✩✩✩.

This should have been right up my alley--a novel about advertising people in Chicago (which I was once!) getting laid off (which I had been!) and it was billed as being hilarious but I just found it sad. Maybe it hit too close to home?

Book 24: Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

 I just finished Cork Dork and I can only give it ✩✩✩. I loved Get The Picture so much but Cork Dork--same idea (deep dive into a subculture), same great writing--was a subculture I'm just not that into. Well I'm not into it at all. If you are a wine person--and not even a collector, just someone who enjoys wine and wants to know more about it--you might like this book. 

Book 23: House Lessons by Erica Bauermeister

 I just finished House Lessons and I give it ✰✰✰✰✰. Five stars people!

Vera recommended this book on her blog and I discovered I had acquired it about six months ago but hadn't read it yet. It is the story of a Seattle family who renovate an old and decrepit house in Port Townsend, Washington. And of course it isn't just that, it is a meditation on architecture and family and symmetry and it is just wonderful.

I wanted to know more--about her architect that believes in aliens, about putting a note in the walls for future owners (we didn't do that with our house, darn it!)--but those are small things to comment on when a book is this perfecct. 

Book 22: Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See

 I just finished Get The Picture by Bianca Bosker and I give it ★★★★★. Five stars! This is the best book I've read in a while.

This book is for anyone who has ever looked at a piece of contemporary artwork and has  1.  been confused or 2. been disgusted or 3. said outloud 'if that's art, I could have done it' or 4. said 'my 4 year old does better art than that.'  The book chronicle's Bosker's journal to develop an 'eye' (as they say in the art world) for contemporary art, and to do so she works (for free) in art galleries, assists an artist in her studio, and works as a guard for the Guggenheim museum in New York (known by guards as the 'Goog'). She talks to many people in the art world to learn what they do, how they view work, what makes art art, and how the art world works. It's fascinating, and it will change the way you look at and think about art. She focuses mainly on contemporary art (that is, art that is being made right now) although she does a ton of research into how the modern art world evolved. 

I hurried up and got her first book, "Cork Dork", about the wine industry because I think it will be great as well. 

Highly recommend.

Book 21: The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson

 I just finished The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson and I give it ★★★1/2 stars. 

I was looking forward to this book but it was kind of--boggy. If that makes any sense. Here's the plot: Mari, a ghostwriter, is hired to write a memoir of a famous groupie-like woman who was involved with three members of the Midnight Ramblers, a big big 70s band. After spending several days listening to the groupie's (criticism alert) dramatic and overthought memories, Mari gets fired. Quickly, though, she is hired by a member of the band, Dante, whose own ghostwriter disappeared. Through this all, Mari is trying to figure out if the death of a band member fifty years prior was an accident, a suicide, or a murder. 

The first 1/3 of the book is so draggy I almost didn't finish it. It picks up when Mari goes to work for Dante, but then gets all kinds of nuts in the last 20%. Not necessarily in a bad way. Mari seems a bit naive to write a rock n roll memoir, mch less two of them. It was all---a bit much.

Book 20: The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy by Anne DeCourcey

 I just finished "The Husband Hunters" by Anne DeCoursey and I give it ✴✴✴.

I love learning about the Gilded Age (and I love watching the Gilded Age on HBO) so I thought I would enjoy this book. It's very well researched and pretty hefty. It is about, as the subtitle suggests, rich American women who went over to the UK and married an artistocratic (yet poor) man. Each chapter talks about one of these Heiresses. 

But, the chapters talk about more than the Heiresses. They talk about the parents, the grandparents, the great grandparents, and on and on. Yes, it is interesting to know how the wealth was built but there seems to be a lot of 'gossipy bits' about, oh I don't know, the Great Aunt Once Removed and it just gets Bogged Down. I wanted to read about their lives once they married and there was some of that, but it was very heavy into history of different families and I didn't find it that interesting. 

It was a good book for reading before bed, since I basically would fall asleep in the middle of a chapter. 

Book 19: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

 I just finished "The Lost Story" and I give it ★★★★. Read my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6252532635. Thanks to the publishers for the ARC!

Book 18: Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

 I just finished Come and Get It and I give it ✵✵✵ 1/2. 

I really liked Reid's book "Such a Fun Age" and in "Come and Get It" she tackles some of the similar themes--race and privilege and sexuality--but it seems a bit clunkier. 

Three women are the focus of the book. Millie is a resident assistant at the University of Arkansas--she's an older student with plans and she is focused enough to get them. Agatha is a visiting professor who meets Millie when she is setting up interviews for her research into female behaviors. Kennedy is a student who lives in Millie's dorm.  When Millie  discovers she can hear what's happening in Kennedy's suite, life in the dorm kind of spirals out of control when Millie allows Agatha to listen in and use what she hears for columns in Teen Vogue. As the story progresses, we learn about Kennedy's secret and how that affects her interactions with students and with school. 

The book is well written, and some of the secondary characters are fun to read about, but the idea that both Agatha and Millie are both completely unethical makes it hard to read some of the book or to root for them as primary characters (I think we're supposed to). Anyway, I'm glad I read it, I guess, but that's about it. 

Book 17: The Mean$ by Amy Fusselman

 I just finished The Mean$ and I give this book--oh I have no idea. Let's say ⍟⍟⍟⍟.

I don't even know where to start with this book. The publishers describe it thusly: "The Means is a comedy about the suffering inherent in desire, capitalist delusion, and the value of unpaid labor." It's the story of the Means family, who want to have a beach house in the Hamptons, but all they can afford is a home made of old shipping containers. How Shelly Means negotiates the work in creating this house, all while her husband George is having a career setback and her new neighbors hate the home design, is the focus of the book. There's a cast of quirky secondary characters, which makes the book seem sort of 'otherwordly' feeling. Anyway, I liked it and zipped through it but it isn't for everyone.

Book 16: The Other Side of the Coin by Angela Kelly

 I just finished The Other Side of the Coin and I give it ✩✩✩✩✩ !

This score reflects: 1. I love the Queen 2. I love behind-the-scenes-at-royal-palaces stuff 3. I love hats and 4. I love stodgy British clothes. If you love none of these, this is not a book for you (plus, I got it for free with Kindle Unlimited and I can't see any version of my life where I would pay more than $2.99 for this). 

Angela Kelly was the Queen' head dresser for the last twenty or so years of the Queen's life, and she also designed quite a few of the Queen's (stodgy, British) clothes. This book is her own account of an average 'royal year' and how she, as a dresser, took care of the Queen's clothes during all the public events. She travelled whenever the Queen travelled, and was responsible for making sure the Queen looked great. She and the Queen were reportedly very close friends, and the book is filled with her love, admiration and respect for the Queen. She talks about how she picks out several choices for the Queen to wear, and how she packs everything up for travel, and how she gets regalia on and off the Queen (there's a lot of detail). She also talked about how she kept track of everything the Queen wore so that she didn't repeat colors and outfits too quickly. 

Given the amount of detail, it's not a long book and it doesn't have a whole lot of 'anecdotes' (read: juicy gossip) and I got the feeling that just isn't Angela Kelly's style. She writes a bit about her inspiration (apparently there's a huge fabric stash at Windsor or Buckingham Palace, I don't recall which) that I would love to see but that will probably never happen. 

There are lovely photos of the Queen, most of which I have seen before (although the publisher said that many of these are 'never before seen', but the book came out in 2019 so maybe they've been made public more recently?). 

Anyway, if you love lots of detail on the Queen's ceremonial outfits (opening of Parliament, Order of the Garter, etc.), this is a book you should track down. 

Book 15: The Girl in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

 I just finished re-reading The Girl in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and I give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2. 

I first read this book in July of 2016, thank you blog search, and my comment was " read "The Woman in Cabin 10" by Ruth Ware and it was great--I think I lapped it up in about 2.5 hours." I enjoyed it this time around as well, although maybe I was a bit more cynical in my reading since I knew (sort of) how it ended and I wanted to see how it all hung together. I think the ending is very rushed and some key things aren't really explained well but it is a fast paced fun read.