Good Book/Bad Book

This week, in Good Book/Bad Book, we'll explore 2 books  - neither being a non-fictional novel nor an epistle.  

Good Book

These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine - by Nancy Turner

Looooooved it!

I didn't want to read this book and certainly didn't think that I would love it. It was my book group's monthly selection.  It took a good 20 pages or so before I was hooked (which isn't long, I know), but then, I had to know more. The principal character is delightfully strong-willed, trying to be humble and patiently endure the messes of life.  I found myself reading this book while driving - my consummate endorsement ("It's so great - you'll read it while driving!")

I will definitely read it again in life - it's inspiring to me and a good mix of a love, girl power, frontier-y-ness, wit, sadness, and humor.  It explores marriage and men, life in the territories,how to be a good sister-in-law,  self-education, and grace in the face of trials.  It's a fun, quick read that leaves you a bit better than it found you.  And it's an excellent book club read - loads to talk about.  

I give it 4.5 miniMormons.

Bad Book

Celebrity Detox - Rosie O'Donnell

ohmystars it was bad.  Hard to read and the worst part, it really illustrates just how (sadly) crazy she is.  It's draining reading someone being defensive for an entire book.  Basically, she takes every hurt she experienced on The View and compiles them into a book wherein she carefully illustrates how forgiving, self-deprecating,  and good she is. I don't have a great deal of patience for self-aggrandizement, so it rather drove me insane.  I did love her Kabballah instructor, though - who would set her straight.  Sadly, she didn't get a lot of print time.  

The editorial conflicts made me nuts, as well.  In one year Blake is 5 (when he needs to be portrayed as pitiful) and then he's suddenly 7 later that same year.  Rosie admits in the book to being contradicted on her version of the truth about events from very reliable sources (her brother and Kelli.)  Still she defends her revisionist history.  To me, this made her an even less credible source to me than she was.  Making something bigger for storytelling's sake or to get more attention doesn't fly with me - it makes me think I can't trust you about details.  I noticed she did that on The View and it didn't set well with me then, either.

It read quickly and it's not a horrific way to spend a couple of hours, but what it revealed about the author was a little weird and it wasn't well-written, in my opinion.  Too choppy, disjointed, and largely not about how celebrities detox from the fame game, which I believed it would be about, given the title.

I give it 2 miniMormons (which equals 1.5 Trump combovers.)

Stay tuned for the next Good Book/Bad Book where we will discuss The Good Omen.  In the meantime, feel free to share your latest Good Book/Bad Book experience!