True Gretch: What I’ve Learned about Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between by Gretchen Whitmer

 

Title: True Gretch:  What I’ve Learned about Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between

Author:  Gretchen Whitmer

Narrated by:  Gretchen Whitmer

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 3 hours and 21 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you!

Do you do any research before you vote?  I like to read up on various candidates on their positions on topics and their lives if available.  I don’t vote straight party ticket and like to evaluate each person individually.  Gretchen Whitmer is the Governor of the state of my birth, Michigan, and she has been mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate.  I’ve already read Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, so I decided it was time to learn more about other potential vice-presidential candidates.

True Gretch by Gretchen Whitmer is a short, interesting memoir where Whitmer discusses her leadership experiences as a governor and her life. 

My thoughts on this memoir:

·       This was a very personal memoir.  Whitmer talks about being raped in college and how she used that experience to fight for reproductive health for Michigan’s women.

·       I enjoyed that Whitmer narrates the book herself.  The audiobook also has clips from her speeches and news clips.  This makes it an enjoyable audio experience.

·       Whitmer narrates some stories from her youth and how she entered politics.

·       I also enjoyed learning that she was named after her Grandmother and the origin of the nickname “Big Gretch.”

·       A lot has gone on during Whitmer’s term as a governor including COVID, protests, a school shooting, and a plot to assassinate her.

·       There was also an interesting look into sexism Whitmer faces as a female governor.  News interviews focused on her looks, size, breast size, etc., and people also commented on these items to her to her face.

·       It was scary thinking about being the governor with a family and having people protesting outside your home armed with AR-15s.

·       Whitmer keeps a gratitude journal and calls for more civility in public conversation.

Overall, I liked learning more about Gretchen Whitmer and her philosophy on life and being in politics. 

 

I have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg

 

Title:  I have Something to Tell You

Author: Chasten Buttigieg

Read by:  Chasten Buttigieg

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 18 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

What is your favorite memoir?  What type of memoirs do you like to read – political figures, Hollywood figures, etc.?

I love to read about the spouses of politicians.  With June as Pride Month, I thought it was time to read about the spouse of the first gay man to run on the national stage for president.  Chasten Buttigieg is Pete Buttigieg’s husband.  I had heard a brief summary of their love story, but I didn’t really know much about Chasten Buttigieg himself.  I love Pete Buttigieg.  I loved him as a presidential candidate and I’m very impressed by his performance so far as the Secretary of Transportation. I’ve been reading articles about how he gets along with everyone on both sides of the aisle and really knows his infrastructure facts.  As an engineer, infrastructure is something I love.  I was happy to hear in this audiobook that he will talk about sewer management in detail.  I am ready to go out to dinner with Peter and Chasten Buttigieg.

The world may know him as Mayor Pete, but to Chasten, he is his husband, Peter.  In I Have Something to Tell You, Chasten writes a heartfelt memoir that was humorous at times, but also serious.  Chasten wrote about his childhood growing up in conservative Northern Michigan and the difficulties of coming out as a gay man.  He had a period of time where he contemplated suicide and he has experienced sexual assault.  He went to college at a local community college and then in Wisconsin at UW-Eau Claire.  He also went to college in Milwaukee as well.  He had been unlucky in love, until he met Peter Buttigieg.  Chasten was up front on their first date that he was looking for a serious relationship.  This made me laugh out loud, as I think many of us have been there.  As Chasten grew used to his role as First Gentleman of South Bend, he also found a fulfilling job as a teacher.  Things were thrown into a loop when his husband decided to run for President.

Chasten wrote openly and honestly about life on the campaign trail as the spouse of a candidate.  It seems that he dealt with things well, but I felt for him that he didn’t get to see Peter much.  The book ended with them back in South Bend after the campaign was over.  My only sadness is that it didn’t continue the story to their current life in Washington DC.  I’ll be ready for his next memoir.

I feel like I’m not adequate here for how much I loved this memoir.  Chasten seemed very down to earth and really told his story warts and all.  One of my favorite parts of the book was when he was very stressed out about Peter finding out about his college and medical debt.  Peter took it all in stride, got out a spreadsheet, and taught Chasten how to manage his finances.  I loved that so much.  They both seem like such good people.  I really enjoyed learning about his work with middle school kids as a teacher and for the LGBTQIA+ community while on the campaign trail. 

I related to Chasten as I also grew up in a rural conservative community in Michigan and now live in Wisconsin.  I am not LGBTQIA+, but I am an ally.  I felt like this book was very down to earth and as I said before, heartfelt on explaining the joys and difficulties of coming out as a gay man in America.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the author Chasten Buttigieg. I always love when an audiobook is narrated by the actual author, especially a memoir.  Chasten Buttigieg is a middle school drama teacher, and this fact made his narration so fun to listen to.  Some authors are a bit dry but Chasten was always so interesting.

Overall, Chasten Buttigieg’s I Have Something to Tell You is a great memoir exploring the life of a political spouse that is genuine, warm and enjoyable.

 

The Accidental Further Adventures of the 100-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson (TLC Book Tour)

Looking for a book full of humor to relieve the winter doldrums?  The Accidental Further Adventures of the 100-Year-Old Man may be the book for you.  I’ll admit, I have not read the first book The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, but I want to after reading this.

Allan Karlsson is a Swedish 100-year old man living a life of luxury in Indonesia with his friend, petty thief Julius Johnsson.  They are using a briefcase full of cash they found (probably in the first book).  As the cash runs out, they are wondering what their next adventure will be.  At Allan’s 101^st birthday party, they accidentally set sail over the ocean in a hot air balloon.  They are rescued after they go down by a North Korean freighter carrying grain and uranium back to North Korea.  Allan has had run ins with North Korea in the past and decides to bluff his way through as a nuclear arms expert . . . which is the start of a very complicated diplomatic crisis!  How will Allan and Julius survive this adventure?

I’ll admit with the Government shut-down and everything, the last thing I wanted to read was political humor where President Trump was a key player . . . yet this book really drew me in and kept me reading and laughing.  Especially as the humor was so pointed and only too true (see my favorite quotes below).  Although I’ll admit on the other hand it made me sad to really realize that our country is the laughing stock of the world (the author of this book is Swedish and lives on an island off Sweden).  I was happy that other countries and their leaders were mocked as well. 

Do you like political humor?  What books make you laugh?

Favorite Quotes:

“Yes, Julius had heard of Trump.  That was his name.  The polar bear may have been white, but it was a foreigner first and foremost. So, it shouldn’t get its hopes up.”

“The encrypted report from the captain of the Honour and Strength was absolutely sensational.  Kim Jong-un read it himself and drew his own conclusions.  He had certain similarities to Trump in Washington in that he was reluctant to delegate his tasks in his administration.  With the possible difference that Trump drew conclusions without doing the actual reading.”

“It’s easy for someone who trusts only themselves to become suspicious of others.”

“Thus counted, the president had lied, made things up or twisted the truth about the former president’s healthcare reform at least sixty times.  And when he expressed himself about the tax burden in the United States it had gone wrong 140 times, even though he was corrected on occasion.  Fake media were, once and for all, evil personified.”

Overall, The Accidental Further Adventures of the 100-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson is a funny, very on point to today’s headlines, adventure.  I need to read more from this author.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!

For more stops on the TLC Book Tour and more information about this novel check out this link.

The Restless Wave by John McCain and Mark Salter

Title: The Restless Wave

Author: John McCain and Mark Salter

Read by:  Beau Bridges with an introduction by John McCain

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: Approximately 14 hours and 15 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

I listened to The Restless Wave the past few weeks and wrote this review before the sad passing of John McCain this past Saturday.  I was greatly saddened by his passing.

I admire John McCain and I still wish he would have won the 2000 primary and ultimate election.  I think we would be a in a far different place in the world if he would have been running the country during 9/11, Katrina, and the economic crisis.  I like how he “straight talks” and does and says what he thinks is right for the country, even if that doesn’t always fall along party lines.  Disclaimer – I’m a moderate and don’t belong to either party.  I vote for both depending on the candidates.

I really liked the introduction that John McCain read himself.  It was a touching remembrance of visiting the Pearl Harbor memorial with veterans from that war.  Beau Bridges was the narrator for the rest of the audiobook and he did a fine job.  I liked the cadence of his voice, but I did ultimately enjoy John McCain’s voice itself for the start of the book.

I should have investigated this book more to have different expectations.  I thought it was going to be about McCain’s entire life, but it started right into the 2008 election.  It’s hard to be a loser of a race and talk about it.  Even McCain sounded like he was whining with his “it wasn’t fair!” thoughts.  I had a hard time with him saying that everyone was harder on Sarah Palin than they were on Barack Obama.  Having been an adult at that time, I remember the stupid things Sarah Palin said and remember the birthism and racism that Obama received on his side.   I did like how McCain took the stance during the election of not allowing racist talk during his campaign talks against his opponent.  I like that he stood a high moral ground and stopped a supporter when they were saying nasty things about Obama and said he was a fine man. I discovered after listening to this audiobook, that I should have listened to or read Faith of My Fathers by John McCain.  It sounds like that book goes more into his past.  I will put that on my “to read” list for the future.

I was glad when the book moved on to torture . . . although that sounds funny.  Having been a prisoner of war, McCain feels passionately about torture. I really loved how he said that to be a great country, we must stand by our ideals and should not sink to a base level.  I only wish more people believed this and implemented it.  As I listened to the audiobook I was amazed by all the great work that McCain did for this country to help us to stand by our ultimate ideals even if it meant disagreeing with Presidents Bush and Obama.  I like that he did wasn’t afraid to speak his mind to any of the Presidents.

Overall, The Restless Wave is an interesting look into John McCain’s unique perspective into politics for the past twenty years.  It ended up being a very timely audiobook for me to listen to in a sad way.  I recommend it for those looking to learn more about modern US history.