Humor Me

Humor Me by Cat Shook, 306 pages

From the outside, Presley Fry is on the ramp to her dream job. She's a producer's assistant on a late night TV show (the one she grew up watching), thanks to a leg up from a family friend's husband, who happened to be an executive at the network. But Presley is also dealing with lingering unresolved feelings from the death of her alcoholic mother 18 months earlier, and when she runs into her mom's old friend just before that friend's network exec husband gets named in the #metoo movement, her grief and the friend's stress become a bit too much to bear.

I feel like that's a fairly bad description of a nuanced look at life as a young female professional in New York during 2017. Because that's what this book is. It captures being a 20-something who is in the "putting in the work" part of a career that's eventually going to be amazing. It captures the complex emotions that accompany the death of a loved one that you sometimes didn't like all that much. It captures the confusing dating scene that exists in friends, hookups, and way too many apps. All in all, it's a pretty fantastic book.

Red, White and Royal Blue

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (2019) 418 pages

Alex is twenty-one and plans to run for Congress someday. He's also the son of the first woman President in the U.S., who's running for her second term. Henry is the grandson of the British queen. Both of these high-profile young men have little privacy. Alex hasn't minded that up to this point; he revels in the spotlight, having helped campaign for his parents and others. Henry seems rather more reserved. Alex hasn't gotten along with him when they've been together, thinking Henry is too snooty. After an unfortunate incident at Henry's older brother's wedding, their handlers go into damage control. Alex and Henry are directed to behave as friends in front of the media, to help showcase the good relations between their countries. When they find out that they are actually attracted to each other, that's when reality hits them: a gay relationship is sure to turn off voters in the U.S. and to strain the reputation of the monarchy in Britain.

Real politicians are mentioned by name, which makes the book more fun. We see the White House staff working hard behind the scenes. The dialog is fun, especially when the young men interact with Alex's sister, June, the Vice President's granddaughter, Nora, and Henry's sister, Bea. Watching them attempt to have a real life while watched over by security feels realistic. A lot of their conversations are carried on via text and email, which are particularly well-done. There's also some election intrigue that keeps one wondering. But my overall concern was how Alex and Henry could hope to have a continuing relationship, while they were so scrutinized by the public and the media, and the unfairness of their situation. I loved this book. (Kara and Regan have posted about it, too.)

Slough House

Slough House by Mick Herron, 301 pages

Slough House is known among British spies as the bottom-of-the-barrel, punishment-assignment office for those who have royally screwed up in the more legitimate spy offices. But it seems that someone is tailing the current members of Slough House and killing off what former members still survive. It's possible that these actions are retaliation for the assassination of a Russian spy in Moscow, but why would anyone go after the bottom of the barrel? Throw in some alt-right agitators and some questionable back-office dealings with the media, and we've got a simmering stew that's ready to boil over.

Slough House (both the book and the office) is full of...oh, let's go with "vibrant"...characters, and the plot, once you get into it, is wonderfully topical and twisty. But this is the seventh book in a series, which is definitely not the point to jump in. If you do that (like I did), you'll spend the first 75 pages or so flailing around in your attempt to figure out who's who and guess at backstories. Learn from my mistake and start with book one, Slow Horses.

Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another

Hate Inc.:Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another by Matt Taibbi (2019) 294 pages

Matt Taibbi writes a fast reading, thought-provoking book that I often learned from, more often than not agreed with, and sometimes was upended by. He says that journalists these days are less likely to be the blue collar writers of the past (eg, Mike Royko of Chicago), and in his view, spend more time ridiculing crowds that support Trump, rather than investigating why they support Trump. He presents a case for the news being a consumer product which keeps us coming back for more, as if we were addicted, no matter which side of politics we find ourselves on.

There are anecdotes from Taibbi's interviews as well as observations he had while covering political campaigns for Rolling Stone magazine. One of the chapters that I found most memorable was when he compared news coverage to sports coverage. I thought that was spot-on. Some of his conclusions, though, worked to cast doubt on some of my heroes on the liberal side of the political spectrum, like Adam Schiff and Rachel Maddow. What surprised me most was how hard it was for me to keep my mind open in all directions while I read this book.

As a bonus, there is an interview with Noam Chomsky in an apprendix, which makes me want to read more of Chomsky's work.