Good for Some Women, Not So Much for Others

 

Menopause is a point in life that encourages women to take stock of where they are and where they are going. If you take advantage of the transition, as the author suggests, it can be liberating. She presents several important strategies to navigate menopause and enrich your life. Many of them are useful no matter where you are in the life cycle.

Hormones and whether to consider hormone replacement therapy is a decision everyone needs to make. No matter what your preference, it’s good to be informed. The author presents the latest guidance to give you a basis for making your decision.

Health problems can surface at this age, and it’s also a good time to kick bad habits and become healthier in the next phase. Exercise and getting enough sleep are important for making the upgrade a premium experience. The author also points out that it’s a good time to evaluate how you respond to various situations. Do you have trouble saying ‘no’? Are you afraid to let go of your adult children? These are questions that will affect the rest of your life.

I thought the book was well written. It gives good advice, but it’s probably not for everyone. If you don’t experience the problems she’s discussing, it may not resonate with you. Many of her examples are from her own life or her patients. This is fine, but if you don’t experience the same problems, they may seem interesting, but not related to where you are.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

A Mesmerizing War Story

 John “Lucky” Luckadoo from Chattanooga Tennessee enlisted right after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Trained as a pilot for B17s, Lucky flew 25 missions and returned home. This was in a time when most pilots flying over Germany only survived eight to ten missions. Lucky deserved his name.

The book details the life of Lucky and his friend Sully. Sully joined the Canadian Air Force also as a fighter pilot. Both were stationed in Britain and were able to spend time together, especially on memorable weekend In London in 1943.

The missions flown by Lucky were particularly dangerous being during the day. The British crews flew night missions. The book vividly describes the flights over targets like Berlin with German fighter planes and ground fire all around. In addition to describing the flights. The author follows the men from training through the rigors of the flights including the icy cold inside the bombers that sometimes caused frostbite. The author also discussed the officers who trained the pilots and those who commanded the squadrons. Some were good people, but as in all situations, some were incompetent and difficult.

I thought the author did an excellent job bringing the reader into the world of the pilots. I found it much better than fiction to understand what these heroes went through. The description of the psychological pressures was hard to read, but extremely well done. I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.
 

Short Bios of the Women Who Made Their Mark in Comedy

 

The author is a man, but he does an excellent job of highlighting the lives and struggles of the women who made their names in comedy. It wasn’t easy for any of them. From vaudeville to television, these women had to fight hard to compete in a male dominated area.

Many of the women were familiar. I loved Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers. My father’s favorite was Minnie Pearl. I can still remember her with her hats. Besides a trip down memory lane, these short bios highlighted how committed the women were and had to be to succeed. The women had to fight for recognition not only from audiences but from agents, directors, male comedians, and often their own families.

Each chapter is an in depth biography. I thought the author did an excellent job of bringing each woman to life with her successes and failures alike. I enjoyed the book. It’s a good addition to the history of women’s success in the professions that were once closed to them.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Tale of a Heist, but the Focus is Character

 

Will Chen, a senior in art history at Harvard, works at the Sackler Museum part-time. When men in black masks raid the museum and steal some priceless Chinese art, Will is caught in the museum. He sees the thieves and notices a piece left behind. He deftly palms it. This act gets him a call from a group that wants to enlist him to steal several more pieces of Chinese art that were taken from the country during Colonial times and now reside in museums. They want these pieces of China’s heritage returned.

Will agrees and recruits his friends to help: his sister Irene, the conman, Alex, the hacker, Daniel, the thief, and Lily, the getaway driver. These are all college students of Chinese ancestry. Their families have been in the US for varying amounts of time, but the students still struggle with understanding their background.

I thought the best part of the book was character development. These are college kids, they each have issues, goals, and desires. They each are struggling to understand who they are and what it means to be a person of Chinese descent. I thought the author did an excellent job showing each character. They were all distinct and quite different from each other, but believable.

I thought the heist was the weakest part of the novel. It seems unlikely that college students would be recruited for this type of job and the way they plan it using Facebook, Whatsapp, and Google is clever, but doesn’t ring true. However, the pace is fast and with the emphasis on the characters and the background history, the weakness of the heist planning and accomplishment goes unnoticed.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.