American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

 I first published this review in September 2, 2010

This is the synopsis from the book: "A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940's, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the President. In her small Wisconsin hometown she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is 17 shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with - and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband's presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer."

This synopsis is a bit misleading in that the husband doesn't run for office until the last few chapters of the book but the "story" of this president's wife is very interesting. 

I read this book a year ago and while I was sorting through my books I found it on the shelf and realized I wanted to write a blog about it. It was an interesting book. I've read other reviews about it that state they believe it is somewhat based on JFK and Jackie.

Some interesting quotes from the book:

"When you are a high school girl, there is nothing more miraculous than a high school boy."

"It was inappropriate to introduce poverty and woe while sunning yourself poolside; you either ought to be elsewhere, doing something about it, or you ought to sun yourself in the spirit that sunning requires."

"I had the fleeting thought then that we are each of us pathetic in one way or another, and the trick is to marry a person whose patheticness you can tolerate..."

All in all a very interesting book. Written about real people but in the style of fiction. The author did her research and although sometimes she gets a bit wordy, she has written about the life of one of my favorite people - and she's done it well.

Although I won't say it's a very good book, I will say it is interesting and I have enjoyed reading it. It has taken me a little longer to read than most books.

Reading in 2011

I remember going to Hastings one time with some "gift" money. I was shopping for books. Some new reading material that could be used for Book Club and just some good reading for me. I hit the jackpot. I purchased around five books. I hadn't read reviews, I just searched the shelves until I found some books I thought I would enjoy reading.

I love my Kindle and the convenience of it. But there is just something special about spending 2 to 3 hours browsing the shelves in a bookstore. - Of course, to do that, you need to have a wad of money in your pockets!

Let's see, the day I hit the jackpot, I purchased "Still Alice"  (review here)    "The Jane Austin Book Club"  (which I just discovered I never reviewed on my blog... go figure. I loved that book) anyway, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (review here)  "American Wife" (I was SURE I had reviewed this one!!) and I believe  the last book was "The 19th Wife"  
(review here)  - or wait - No, it was "The Zookeeper's Wife" (review here)  ( I know it was another one with the word "wife" in the title!!)

I liked all the books I purchased that day, as I said I felt as if I had hit the jackpot!! However, I have not had that much luck since.  :(  

It seems as if it has been f.o.r.e.v.e.r. since I have read a really good book. I've read some good ones. Just not any REALLY good ones. I read 2 about BTK (true crime books that were based here in Wichita) but lets face it, If I hadn't just moved to Wichita, I probably wouldn't have liked them. 

I've read Evanovich and Grisham - which were both very good - but nothing unusual in their story lines. 

I've read a Christmas book and I've tried reading a couple of other books that I didn't even finish... Which is very unusual for me.

So, I have got to get serious about my book search. I need to read some quality books with interesting story lines.

I want to pick up reviewing books and to do that, I'm just going to have to find something worth reading! So....

For 2012, I hope to give you some reviews to help you choose some good reading material. 

Happy Reading, Friends.