The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Art Spiegelman

The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father during the Holocaust. This book does tackle tough topics. And there is nudity (not of the mice and also definitely not in a sexual way). But I would let my kids read it when they're older (6 & 8 now...so clearly not appropriate). I would like to talk about it with them as they do. And that's where the importance of parenting (not just blindly banning books) is important.
It is so critical we read and know the stories of others.

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Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Life & Work - Victoria Ortiz

Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life and Work by Victoria Ortiz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This wasn't a book so much about her dissents. It was more a biography of her life with her life experiences (sometimes loosely) linked to some of the cases she sat for (some that she was a dissenter but others not).
The organization was wonky to me in this book and parts were redundant. That makes me lean more towards 2 stars. But I did enjoy learning more about her and her path to the Supreme Court.

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Billy Joel - Fred Schruers

Billy Joel by Fred Schruers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So there was some about this book that I didn't love.
--Name and company dropping without context
--The author seems to assume you already know a lot about Billy Joel, the music industry and its players, etc. I don't. I mean, I can sing along with a lot of his songs but didn't know his life. Hence wanting to read this book.
--A lot of contradictions. That could be because much of the information was taken from interviews and people's perspectives and memories can be different.
--I didn't get the *many* Godfather movie references. That's probably just me though.

By the middle of the book it, a lot of those things were improved or I was now familiar with them. I did end up enjoying the book and am looking even more forward to seeing him in concert this summer.

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The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers - Maxwell King

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It pains me to give this book 1 star. I was so looking forward to reading it and am a fan of Mr. Rogers and his work. This book does not do him justice.

I was a bit put off straight from the prologue where King refers to Fred Rogers as being feminine in nature. He does this several times throughout the book in different ways. I just don't see Rogers as that way. Caring? Yes. Calm? For sure. But not feminine.

The book is poorly organized and could have used a good dose of editing. The timeline is sort of chronological but also bounces back and forth some. Dates are mentioned randomly in some parts where as other sections where a date would be helpful to the reader, there is none. SO. MANY. Redundancies. The book would have been half the length if all the unnecessary repetition of information was deleted. Some sections and details were inadequately or poorly explained. Others the author went into overdrive on details and explanations that didn't add anything to the narrative of Fred Rogers life and work.

Had this not been the book chosen for both my book clubs this month, I would have quit it before I was halfway through. In fact, if you're in my local book club I give you full permission to quit it and still come to the meeting.

I wanted to love it. It is Mr. Rogers, after all. Disappointed.

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The Great and Only Barnum - Candace Fleming

The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum by Candace Fleming
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So after watching The Greatest Showman, I wanted to learn more about P.T. Barnum. This middle grades biography is the only thing my library had to offer. But it ended up being really good. Just enough information on most of the areas I wanted to learn more about/compare movie vs. fact. It was very readable, well organized, and contained great pictures.

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Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy - Kate Abbott

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book covering four female spies (two from the North and two from the South) during the Civil War should have been infinitely interesting. But it wasn't. Because the four stories rotate based on chronology, it took me about half the book to keep people straight. The pace was slow, and it took me far longer to read than it should have. I'm not entirely sure why, as the content is something that would normally intrigue me. So I just have to chalk it up to presentation.
1.5 stars

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Alexander Hamilton - Rob Chernow

<Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I am ridiculously interested in going to see the musical. But as incentive figured I’d read the biography that inspired it all first. I figure 800+ pages should be worth rewarding with a ticket should Hamilton the musical ever come near enough for my viewing pleasure.
I did not expect the biography to be so engaging. It really was quite interesting. Not just Alexander Hamilton’s life but just the politics and the infighting and the beginning years of the United States. Absolutely worth the time investment to read it.

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Kate: The Making of a Princess - Claudia Joseph

Synopsis from Borders.com: Kate Middleton is the girl everyone wants to be. Catherine Elizabeth "Kate" Middleton is living a perfect Cinderella fairy tale. She is engaged to Britain's most desirable bachelor—and now she's the future queen of England!

Based on exclusive and intimate interviews with Kate's closest friends and relatives, and illustrated throughout with photographs, many published here for the very first time, Claudia Joseph's Kate: The Making of a Princess is a fascinating portrait of the extraordinary young woman who will be queen—and the story of a family's remarkable journey from the mining villages of Durham to an apartment in the royal residence of Clarence House.

My disclaimer is that I read this as a digital book. So some of my issues with the book may or may not be a result of that.

I was looking forward to reading this book (since I have a mild obsession with all things royal) but finished it feeling rather disappointed and unsatisfied. It says the book is based on exclusive and intimate interviews. I’m not sure how valid that is. There were a few quotes from friends and great aunts and second/third cousins, etc. But I don’t know how intimate those “interviews” were. And most of the material seemed like information you could have gathered from the society pages.

Also, the chronology of the book was not okay. It kept jumping back and forth and back again between generations and branches of the family tree. Now, this is one issue with it being in digital form: apparently there was a diagram of Kate’s family tree in the back of the book. That would have been more than helpful to reference throughout the reading. However, since it was digital I didn’t know it was there until I’d finished my reading.

Even with Prince William and Kate’s relationship, the narrative would bounce around in time, often repeating events that had already been covered.

This is the first book I’ve read on the current Princess Catherine. My advice is to skip it and pick a different biography to get your royal info fix. There is a plethora of them to choose from.