Welcome to Litsy!

This 900-page behemoth was worth every minute. History the way it‘s supposed to be—told with verve and strength. I learned so much about the Presidents, First Ladies, journalists, and the events of the time. It‘s also as relevant to today as you may have heard. Lots of politics and back room, cigar-smoking privilege trying to seize and maintain control.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage

I love Doris Kearns Goodwin books! I love the depth she goes into in people‘s lives...the books are full of details and insight, yet they are really lively and intriguing. Because she chooses a period of time within the greater context of their lives, I think it actually ends up giving more of a thorough picture of the character and difficulties they faced. You really end up feeling like you know them. A very good read.

Imagine the outrage if a newly inaugurated President set off on a two-month **vacation** after being sworn in! And if during this trip, the primary methods of communication were telegram and letter! 🤦🏼‍♀️😲😲🤦🏼‍♀️

I‘m working mostly from author back lists for my #readingchallenge choices in 2021. Gotta work on trimming down my library! So here are my #booked2021 #winter choices. Using the tagged book for the #history prompt and the #science book for a prompt in the #nonfictionchallenge2021. We will see what I **actually** read ... LOL.

It's a long audiobook, over 36 hours, but well worth every minute. The book did not change my opinion of Teddy Roosevelt, one of my favorite presidents, but I did gain a new understanding and respect for William Howard Taft, who I'd always seen in TR's shadow. Taft is a prime example of a man without the temperament to be president, but who took on the challenge anyway and succeeded in many ways. Like Jimmy Carter, William Howard Taft 👇👇👇

I learned a lot from this book. I learned that while he was a good president, I don‘t much care for Teddy Roosevelt as a person. I grew to admire William H. Taft as a person, although his presidency wasn‘t much to brag about. And I pine for the old days of journalism, when people would clamor for magazines with 30,000-word investigative articles about topics like oil monopolies and tariff acts. Ah, those were the days. 😕

Day 9: #adventrecommends

#24in48 halfway stats. This is the best I've ever done. Weeeee.... tip: audio books because you can mutltask.

Yesterday I found this in a local Little Free Library.

1. I‘m thinking of setting a goal of 75-80 books so that I can read some longer books and still meet my goal.
2. The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Good People by Hannah Kent, The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
3. I tend to consistently read across genres, but I‘d like to read more classics
4. At least one, while continuing the two I did this year
5. No goal

Come for the history of investigative journalism and the progressive movement, stay for the heart wrenching stories about presidential friendship! This was a fascinating story about a period of dynamic change in American history made all the more compelling by the remarkable relationships between Taft and Roosevelt. Any book which leaves me tearing up at a bus stop as I listen to the last chapter is worth the investment!

#spookyoctober Day 5: Terrific Thursday

#uncannyoctober Day 4: moon
It's not the greatest picture, but the moon was very bright last night

#Octoberlibrary17 Day 3: Orange & #riotgrams Day 4: #currentlyreading

#uncannyoctober #hallowreads #spookyoctober Day 1
October TBR/ Most Anticipated 🦇🕸️🕷️🎃☠️

"He traveled with his father, keeping the books and bank accounts, but did not LIVE in it, as one must do if he is to be happy and truly successful in any employment."

Loved this one on audio! #presidentialreads #feistyfeb @RealLifeReading

#feistyfeb Of these three hefty #presidentialreads, I've only managed to read Team of Rivals thus far. I will get to the other two eventually...

Jumping into this audiobook and enjoying it so far. Edward Herrmann had such a great voice.

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism.

My contribution to the #LongTitle #BookPhotoChallenge for #Booktober

It's a long title and a really great book too.

I've started listening to this on my walks home from work, and I'm loving it so far! Edward Herrmann's voice is just so soothing. As a journalist now, with so many publications facing an uncertain future and the industry being in flux, I am endlessly drawn to books about the "Golden Age of Journalism." ❤️

#bookstack post #2, or how I spent Saturday morning. 3 bookstores later I've added these 😀. The stack on the left are new books, and the stack on the right are used books. 📚📚 #augustofpages #bookphotochallenge #nosuchthingastoomanybooks

#WomenCrushWednesday - because most "serious nonfiction is written by a whole lot of dudes." Women can pen memoirs and essays but somehow never get as much attention for their biographies. More wonderful women in this category: Stacy Schiff and Sarah Vowel! Anyone have other recommendations?

Love this idea, so I'm following the lovely Litsy example. I don't keep a spreadsheet, so mine is based on looking at Goodreads and my books that were finished in May and just adding. ;)

Excellent book! Not only are the historical facets very interesting in retrospect, many of the political struggles ring very timely in the current political climate. The individual backgrounds for the main players were excellent in showing their viewpoints as they collided and clashed over time.

I know I'm reading a historical account, and all the players are long gone, but my heart still sank when a great 'character', a lovely person loved by all, decided to cut his vacation short and rush home to help the beleaguered President...and boarded the fast, new, RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage.

Poorly played, old boy, poorly played!
~Turn down the nomination, basically hand pick your replacements, go on vacation for a year, & then decide that everything should just go back to the way it was before you left. And darn them all if they don't agree and have actually moved on in your absence.

I know I'm supposed to be seeing the brilliance of Roosevelt & Taft in this book, & they are great men, but the figure I'm finding most captivating and wishing we had a modern equivalent of is Ida Tarbell! She needs better press in these modern times. I'm going to have to search out her biography.

And just when everything is working excellently, it all falls apart. So depressing to see how quickly it fell apart because of personal quicks, public interest shift, & one 'supposedly' misinterpreted Presidential speech. How quickly we turn on those that have helped us become great... Darn it, TR!

"..if "people at large" perceived "that the Republican Party had become unduly subservient to the so-called Wall Street men-to the men of mere wealth, "the plutocracy." It would result in "a dreadful calamity," Roosevelt told a conservative friend."
~wonder what he'd say about the whole system now?

Where have all the good investigative reporters gone? We need some good ole fashioned muckrakers!

Finished The Big Short and moved on to the Bully Pulpit, yet suddenly I'm reading about JP Morgan again and 'too big to fail', except now it's 1902... And they are using anti-trust laws to break things up.

"Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street."
~ Mary Elizabeth Lease (1850-1933). *(?it's all just a little bit of history repeating?)*...scary familiar....

Lots of backstory about the main character and their lives and families, which show the times so clearly. But the politics, the debates...some of those could be taken right off the nightly news today.