Books Sept 7th through Oct 17th

As far as print books during this time I managed to finish the bigoted The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization. I was nearly dancing in the street when I finished that one. I picked Life Without Oil: Why We Must Shift to a New Energy Future back up. I am soo close to finishing this one also and will be glad. It is a very informational book which is not bad, just heavy to wade through.

Audio books as usual have been my go to entertainment while driving back and forth to work.  I finished Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North.  Once finished with the frozen north I listened to Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. I was disappointed in this book mainly because it was a rehash of his other books that I listened to. The next book I listened to was interesting although it could have been shorter. I felt the author repeated himself and brought in details that did not pertain to the overall story just because he had the information in his research. Overall though I am glad I listened to American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst. Up next was Get Your Sh*t Together: How to Freak Out Less, Accomplish More, and Generally Win at Life which I found to be a complete rehash of her other book I listened to. She is not an author who I relate to and so I was having a hard time buying into her philosophy on life. With all of this mundane listening I was holding out hope that Not Dead Yet: The Memoir by Phil Collins was going to be worth the time. This was an interesting listen especially since I have previously listened to the Beatles story and this overlapped them in sections. I can not say this made me like Phil Collins as a person but he seemed to be honest about his faults which I appreciate.  Staying on the musical biography train I went immediately into Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. This one was also interesting and overlapped with a lot of same bands Phil mentioned. As with Phil I appreciated Bruce's honesty about his faults and especially his bouts with mental illness.  I stayed in the 70s with the next book which was Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar .  While I have never been a basketball fan I was hoping to enjoy this book. There were parts I liked and parts I did not. This book really seemed more about Kareem than the coach he claims to have loved.  After this one I totally shifted gears and listened to The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan which I loved!!! I honestly was wishing for just a smidge more once the book ended. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.  Currently I am trying to become a better parent to the munchkins by listening to  Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys . I am picking up some good information on supporting the boys in their current stage of life and helping them transition.

There have been Kindle books in the middle of this also! The book I was waiting on came out and I quickly read through it. Invisible Warrior by Teresa Gabelman was good but I have to say I am starting to lose interest in the series. Characters seem to be added now for the sole purpose of continuing the series. The initial premises which she built this world on seem also to have gone by the way side and I am disappointed with that. I started another kindle book from the library but did not finish it before it was due so I am waiting on Year of No Clutter by Eve O Schaub to become available again.