October Book Review

It is getting darker earlier and I've been loving being at home and reading some in the evenings.  In October I read two non-fiction books books and both were fantastic.  Literally I couldn't put these books down they were so good.  I love reading non-fiction and these stories were very different but had the same themes of two  young women who had incredible life circumstances and hardships trying to figure out who they were.  Both women were determined to overcome very different obstacles to become  the best version of themselves that they could.  

The first book I read was a book about JFK.  I love reading books about JFK and his time as President.  This book was written by Mimi Alford called Once Upon a Secret .  In this book Mimi writes about her time as a  a college student.  During her college years she works in the White House during the summer and has an affair with the President that lasts until his death. She only told her soon to be husband about the affair and he forbid her from talking about so she kept the secret for many years.  This book talks about what keeping that secret meant for her life as a wife and mother and how it consumed her thoughts and feelings for all those years.  She reveled her secret to her  grown children after she learned  it was going to be reported in a national newspaper.  JFK used his power and position to seduce and manipulate her.  She never talked about that part instead she remembers him and their time together in a very positive way.

The next book I read was Educatedby Tara Westover.  Tara grew up in rural Idaho with parents who didn't believe in school or the government.  Tara didn't have a birth certificate, access to medical care, or set foot in a classroom until she was 17 and enrolled (against her father's wishes) at BYU.  She grew up Mormon and her parents were survivalists always prepping for some big catastrophe.  She grew up the youngest child of seven kids working in her father's scrap yard.    Her mother was a midwife who helped other survivalist families bring babies into the world.   Tara was mentally abused by her father who had an undiagnosed mental illness and physically and mentally abused by her brother. She also suffered many injuries and illnesses throughout her life that were not treated by a doctor. One of her brothers went to College and he encouraged Tara to take the ACT test and go to College. Remarkably, Tara studied and did well enough on the ACT to get into BYU.  After BYU she got her doctorate at Cambridge. It is amazing to me that Tara did all of this without the help or support of her parents and without any formal education.  I read this book for my book club this month and we had a great discussion about this book.  It's one that I still think about.  I highly recommend this book.

What have you been reading lately?

Xoxo