betsyrisen's reviews
826 reviews

This book kept me guessing throughout, and I had the unfortunate experience of a fairly abrupt ending that, while not leaving everything hanging, did kind of try to tie up everything in a bow that didn't quite sit right.

Still, I enjoyed it very much. It was well written and didn't go on too long, and I might benefit from coming back to it again at a later time. Might learn some things I missed the first time through. Not difficult material, writing-wise, but hard in the "dealing with grief" kind of way. 

 

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it. 
~ Maya Angelou

Wow.

Obviously, you can't get past the title of this book without being automatically intrigued. Still, I found it a bit laborious. The content certainly could give a person pause and take longer to digest, but while for the most part I liked the structure of the book, it did at times get repetitive, and even hard to follow. Which is the nature of a childhood where you're uprooted so many times and have to start over so many places, so it actually kind of fits the tone of the book.

Absolutely fascinating, well researched (of course), and intriguing as heck.

John Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died 30 days into his term. He was kicked out of his party and became the first president threatened with impeachment. Millard Fillmore succeeded esteemed General Zachary Taylor. He immediately sacked the entire cabinet and delayed an inevitable Civil War by standing with Henry Clay’s compromise of 1850. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded our greatest president, sided with remnants of the Confederacy in Reconstruction. Chester Arthur, the embodiment of the spoils system, was so reviled as James Garfield’s successor that he had to defend himself against plotting Garfield’s assassination; but he reformed the civil service. Theodore Roosevelt broke up the trusts. Calvin Coolidge silently cooled down the Harding scandals and preserved the White House for the Republican Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Truman surprised everybody when he succeeded the great FDR and proved an able and accomplished president. Lyndon B. Johnson was named to deliver Texas electorally. He led the nation forward on Civil Rights but failed on Vietnam.

"The Secret Service is not particularly interested in highlighting failures, the President doesn't want to engage in his own mortality, it is awkward for the Vice President to say anything at all, and after Al Haig declared he was "in control here" following an attempt on Reagan's life, cabinet secretaries are programmed to keep their mouths shut."

I enjoyed this book immensely. Drawing a through line through the history of accidental presidents without bouncing around or getting repetitive, I appreciated the way the book was structured and written. I am glad to never run out of things to learn about the office of the president, and this is just another slice of niche trivia to be glad to hear more about. 

“When you first get started, there's usually a big gap between what you are and what you want to be. If I'd waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started being creative, well I'd still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it's in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.” 

“You do not need to have an extraordinary life to make extraordinary work.” 

2025 has been and I hope will continue to be a lot of reading books that have been on my TBR too long. So here is another one accomplished.

I pass by this building every day on my way to work, and it has recently gone through a renovation. One day while on my commute, I was confronted by large "Country Palace" signs which had been uncovered during the construction work inside, and I think all of downtown Toledo was smiling that day.

So much of my life takes place in as is about downtown Toledo, and I love to hear stories about its heyday (and also bemoan the fact that we've got a long way to go to get them back). 

Fascinating story, very well presented, would highly recommend. 

I picked this book up as a Valentine's Day inspired read, and it definitely fit the bill. A star studded collection of essays, covering a wide range of topics. Full disclosure, my first celebrity crush was Brad Renfro. I was not a "tape pictures of teen heartthrobs to the bedroom wall," until I was. 

For the record I'd also like to point out that I also taped a photo of Frank Sinatra to the wall. I have always had varied and unique tastes. 

"There are bosses who offer up tough but fair criticism on your work in the hopes of steering you toward a better performance. And then there are the bosses who prefer to dole out their disapproval in bite-size morsels. There are the “I’ll just do this myself” bosses, the “I think we’ll have Betsy give the presentation instead” bosses, the bosses who specifically cc’d you on emails to let you know that they did not bring back enough chocolates from their trip to Portugal for everyone in the office, so please don’t take any from the kitchen unless they’ve already told you that you can. These bosses deserve an “I Love When You Talk to Me in a Passive-Aggressive Tone” bouquet."

I mean, come on. I was only a few pages in to this book and immediately bought it for a coworker. Absolutely fantastic, and beautifully illustrated!

My reasons for reading this book at this time: the world is on fire, so reading a fictional take of a Fox News-like organization feeding demon possession straight into half the population felt, oddly soothing? I understand most of you will wonder how the hell I make that logic work, but what can I say, I dig it.

I can't think of a single person who reads my recs who would enjoy this other than me. Gory horror, graphic violence, needless killing of family pets, this book has it all. I couldn't stop reading it. Again, I feel like this review has more to say about me than anything...

I really enjoyed this frenetic writing style, and while I feel like I could predict at least the direction the story was going in, I was still at least caught off guard now and then.

Predictable ending, however, was predictable. And boy did this get long in places. Could have probably trimmed down 100 pages and not lost any punch.

Sidenote: It wasn't until I'd finished this book that I realized I've had 2 others by the author on my TBR forever, before ultimately deciding they weren't for me. 

"The part of Sherry that was always just outside of everything, the part that was quietly taking notes in the back of the classroom, the part that volunteered to take the photo, the part that stood behind the table at the prom and ladled out the punch - that part of Sherry thought, "I didn't know that someone's knees really could buckle. I didn't know what they meant when they said that their stomach fell through the floor."

This is not generally my kind of book, but I'm trying to diversify. I feel like it took forever to get through. And I'm also stubborn, so even though I was 70 pages in, I told myself I'd get to the end of the chapter and then decide whether or not to continue reading. Which is EXACTLY when it got good (ain't that always the way?)

This book keeps you wrong footed as a matter of course, and it works for the plot, but it makes my head hurt. And I think there were too many characters. I kept losing track of who was who and why they mattered. I appreciated the conclusion of the story being wrapped up with a cozy little bow, and didn't even mind a little tease at the end.