The Roots of Obama's Rage--#67 finished

This is a very interesting book with an attempt to understand President Obama and some of his motivations. Basically it is about Obama understanding his father, who had abandoned him & his mother. His father came from humble beginnings in Kenya and was able to get a US education that when he returned to Kenya he turned into a government job. His basic ideology was anti-colonialism with some socialism thrown in as well. The author argument is that Obama has taken this same ideology and has incorporated into his own and is behind all of Obama's major acts as President. It is an interesting idea and from reading the book seems to have a lot of merit. The book points out a few cases where people were left scratching their heads about a policy or statement from Obama and this anti-colonialism does seem to explain these. I have not read any book reviews or seen how this book was accepted after it came out, that is my next step after writing this up, but to me it seems to explain some of what we have in our President.

I will be posting this book on PBS, I know there is a WL for the book, I can't remember how many though. I will probably also post the Clinton vs Starr book as well. Still reading A Gate at the Stairs and The Last Undercover.

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs Starr--#66 finished

It took me a very long time to read this book, starting it either late August or early September till tonight. This is a very good book with tons of information laid out in an easy to understand a follow way. This is not the kind of book that you can pick up and read for 5 minutes here or there or read during commercials or while semi watching TV. This book I had to dedicate time to read it as well as be in the mood to read it. I remember following this whole Clinton vs Starr stuff that was going on but I never followed it close to the level of detail this book provides along with the extra information provided from interviews after the fact. While I don't see myself ever investing the time to read this book again, I am very glad that I have read it.

I will be passing it along on PBS, I think there are around 15 WL for it. I will probably post it at some point this weekend but might wait a little while, who really knows right now.

The Wrong Side of Memphis--#65 finished

This is a mystery book by a St Louis author Claire Applewhite. It was just okay for me. The problems I had with it were characters just kind of jumping into and out of the action, there being a back story with characters that I didn't know and some characters were just too similar that they were easily confused by me. A lot of murder's happening in one apartment building and while the detective is around talking to people it takes months to get it figured out and several more murders in the meantime. Just kind of a strange book. I think there is a 2nd book in this series out so I will read it & see how it goes. I had actually finished this book a couple days ago but with a busy schedule just hadn't gotten time to log in till now.

There is 1 WL for it I will be posting it sometime soon to ship off. I am still reading Clinton vs Starr, I am under 100 pages and hope to maybe finish it this weekend. Also reading Gate at the Top of the Stairs, I think that is the title and just started The Last Undercover, about an FBI guy getting inside NAMBLA.

Disc Golf & Running

It was a busy weekend of stuff but I was able to get some decent exercise in. Friday night after work I was able to get a walk/run in of 2.0 miles, slow but at least got it in. Saturday I played 18 holes of disc golf at Creve Coeur Park and then because it was too windy there I went to McDonnell Park and ran/walked 3.0 miles. The run/walk was again slow but it was faster than Friday night and this park has hills so it was a good workout.

Today it was the zoo for like 3 hours of walking and then I went out with my son & played 9 holes of disc golf at Endicott Park. It was a busy weekend but really enjoyed the time outside since don't know how many of these nice days we will have.

Reckless: The Outrageous Lives of Nine Kick-Ass Women--#64 finished

This was a really quick read about, well basically the title. The author is a journalist and picked out 9 women from earlier interviews or that she had heard of & compiled a short writeup on them and turned it into a book. Kind of interesting for what it was a quick look at each of them, not really anything in-depth. I needed a different kind of book and this one qualified with the quick read being the main goal I had.

I have already posted it on PBS, there were 7 WL for it. I also posted Rickwood Field on PBS as well to have 2 books to mail off once they get accepted. I am making progress on Clinton vs Starr, I am just over 100 pages to go. I doubt I will finish this weekend though, it will probably be next week or weekend before it is done. I have also started The Wrong Side of Memphis by a St Louis author and I am still working on A Gate at the Stairs. I might be starting a 4th book as well. I seem to like starting books right now more so than working to finish the ones already started. Oh well.

Rickwood Field--#63 finished

An interesting book at a baseball field built in 1910 in Birmingham, Alabama and is still around today. It has quite a history of baseball with both the white & black or Negro leagues playing there. It was a minor league ballpark for most of it's existence, only lately losing its minor league affiliation. It is now a kind of high school and all star type stadium. Between players coming up the minors and the traveling teams both white & black, there was a ton of hall of fame and big league players that played there. Willie Mays playing professionally there while he was still in high school is only one of the better stories about the stadium.

The other part of the story is how the town of Birmingham has rallied around the stadium and found a way to preserve it. It has a rich history and I am glad it is going to be around for people to see it.

I will be posting it on PBS at some point, I think there were 3 or 4 people that have it on the WL. I will probably wait though until another book is requested or maybe later into next week, early part of week is busy & might be hard to get to the post office.