Some unsolicited thoughts and opinions from a mother and daughter who love reading and talking about books!

In his intro to this massive tome, Barack Obama mentions how, as he began the project of writing a memoir about his time in office, the size of the book grew and grew until he had to split it into two books.  Reading it then I thought, "Oh, so the first part must be Dreams From My Father," which I had read and enjoyed. But as I reached page 600, and he hadn't finished describing his first term in office, I realized there is another tome to come that will cover his re-election and second term. I am going to be honest with you all, I will not be reading it.

I have always found psychology fascinating and majored in developmental psych, along with theatre, in college. So diving into Patient H. M., I felt excited to learn through the study of lobotomies more about how our memories work.. I am thrilled to report, however, that this book delivers so much more. It reminds me of Hidden Valley Road (read review here) in how cleverly it weaves personal narrative with psychological history and current scientific fact.

Whenever my mom or I review a non-fiction book, we comment on the rarity of the genre appearing on our reading lists.  And yet somehow, of the last 11 books I’ve read, seven were non-fiction! Year Of Yes I reviewed in November (read review here). But rather than choosing just two books to share with you this month, I’ve written a rapid-fire round-up and hope to spark more non-fiction interest on your reading list.

Just Kids was a surprise hit for me since I didn't really know that much about Patti Smith.  Smith's autobiography focuses mainly on her relationship with Robert Maplethorpe, about whom I also knew very little.

In this memoir we have another very funny television personality as the author. Shannon had some very difficult moments in her life, which made this book a much tougher read than I anticipated. 

For those who don’t know, Shonda Rhimes is the creator and head writer of several of the most popular TV shows of the last 15 years: Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder. In addition, her production company Shondaland produces many other shows, including the smash hit Bridgerton. On top of that, she’s a Dartmouth grad, and for all of these reasons, I love her.

Lessons From the Edge provides another perfect example of why I love being in a book club. I would never have read this book on my own. But because it was a selection for my Boston Bates Alumnae Book Club, I read it and found it fascinating.