Born Standing Up, Steve Martin

Born Standing Up:  A comic's life by Steve Martin is an autobiography by my favorite comic.

Started:  2/12/2018

Completed: 2/18/2018

Recommended By: Nobody

Recommendation: Hilarious and very informative

Review:

I learned a lot about Steve Martin and many of the things that I learned helped me understand how Mr. Martin's act was so carefully crafted and yet felt so spontaneous.  This autobiography is mostly about his stand up career with very little attention paid to his movies.  I understand that as his movie career feels "current" but his stand-up is over.  Still I wish he had included more about his more recent life.  I really liked that he covered his public life very completely while managing to leave a lot of his private life personal.

Ratf**ked, David Daley

Ratf**ked:  The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy by David Daley is a book recommended in The Nation.  I got the book out of the library, but kept getting other things to read and even after three renewals I hadn't read it.  I picked it up on audio so that I could listen to it on the way to work...of course, that assumes the government will continue to operate.

Started:  1/24/2018

Completed: 2/12/2018

Recommended By: The Nation

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

The most recent set of gerrymandering (2010) and its after effects are highly detailed.  Daley really went at it and whether you crow with delight when you hear how Republicans put it to the Democrats or howl with dismay at how politicians chose their own voters (instead of the other way around), this is a remarkably detailed look at what happened.  The story is a good one, but unless you are into minutia, you will likely find the book boring after the first few chapters.  In my opinion (a definite gerrymandering wonk), it is a comprehensive look at gerrymandering and how the republican Red Map program literally has compromised democracy (good if you are a minority Republican afraid of the liberals, bad if you are a progressive worried about the conservatives).

Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff

Fire and Fury:  Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff is a book that I bought on pre-order the instant I heard about it.

Started:  1/26/2018

Completed: 2/9/2018

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By:  Everyone

Words For Which I Sought Help:

auteur -- a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie

bête noire -- a person or thing strongly detested or avoided

Borscht Belt -- a resort area in the Catskill Mountains frequented chiefly by Jewish guests

demimonde -- a group of people considered to be on the fringes of society

encomuium -- glowing and warming enthusiastic praise

louche -- disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way

mendacious -- not telling the truth; lying

myrmidon -- a hired ruffian or unscrupulous subordinate

samizdat -- the clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state

tummler -- a person who makes things happen, in particular a professional entertainer or comedian whose function is to encourage an audience, guests at a resort, etc., to participate in entertainments or activities.

Review:

It is what you expect.  The White House is pretty much what you would expect.  The author is quite good at portraying things as though he were a fly on the wall.  He is well spoken and does a pretty good job of writing the material.