Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m posting one book a day from my massive collection. No description, no reason for why I want to read it.

#ABookADay2025

I really like Bob Woodward‘s style of writing.
He couldn‘t have said it better: “The failure to organize. The lack of discipline. The undermining or the attempted undermining of so many American institutions. The unwillingness to acknowledge error. When his performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job.”

I‘m glad I listened to this and it was insightful, but I wasn‘t crazy about it. One of Woodward‘s strategies was showing how often Trump flipped positions, but Woodward compounded that by reusing quotes in multiple chapters snd jumping around with the timeline. I think the story could have been linear and shorter and it would have made it more convincing.

The vote counts have passed the threadhold....

He will be impeached, again

I think I‘m finally, genuinely, Trump-booked out. I‘ve read a lot, but I also think that with coronavirus the news cycle is moving so quickly that everything from The BeforeTimes feels so far away from today. Obviously this has great access and some blockbuster moments, but most of the latter made it into the reviews/excepts/trailer articles and with the general state of the world, maybe that‘s as much as you need at the moment.

Yikes. Tough book to read. Interesting like a dumpster fire. Hard to know what to think. 18 interviews and direct quotations showing a mismanaged, unplanned, and chaotic presidency. Common theme of Trumps extreme arrogance and inability on so many different levels. I didn‘t really like reading this one (because of the co rent) but I do think it was well done and well researched.

I thought this was a well done look at the shit show that is trump and his administration. Free space #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks #nfn2020 @rsteve388 @Clwojick

I enjoyed parts of this book but got bored by it too. About 150 pages in I was gonna quit and then decided to skip ahead to the start of 2020 interviews, and things picked up from there. So while I didn't technically read the entire thing I did like most of what I read. Very interesting.

This spoken by someone on his own team!!!

Got this in from the library today after waiting on hold for several weeks. Gotta finish my current read and then this is up next. (Notice my voting sticker stuck on the book, and no I did not vote for this man. I have to be honest though, I would have last election; however, I didn't live here then so didn't vote. Funny how times and opinions change. But change they did and because of the sad state of affairs that's now common place in the US.)☹️

Book review for Rage by Bob Woodward
http://www.athinsliceofanxiety.com/2020/11/review-rage.html?m=1
#athinsliceofanxiety #rage #election2020

🎧 Nothing new here, narrator was ok, lots of repetition. I‘m disappointed. Mostly Covid-19 related. I‘m in a field that keeps me informed of C19 so, meh. There was some talk about North Korea, Russia, Floyd & the economy. Due to the repetitive nature of the book & common knowledge I can‘t in good conscious give it more than ⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you‘ve had your head in the sand for the past 4 years this may be for you. It was close to a waste of my time 😫

I didn‘t find much that was really stunning that wasn‘t already known if you‘ve paid attention to the news. And what was new has already been all over the media before the book was released. 3/5 star ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

I have to amend my earlier review. The more I thought about, the more I realized the book itself isn‘t that great. The problems with pacing, editing, and so on are really detrimental, and it seems like Woodward couldn‘t decide between focusing on Trump‘s whole presidency (didn‘t he already do one on the first couple years?) and the specifics of mishandling the pandemic. Too much information dump that got rushed to press. Sorry, Bob.

Very informational; I learned a lot or had some clarity to what I kind of knew.

I found the organization confusing, as it was largely chronological but not entirely, and the use of acronyms was inconsistent (should be defined on first usage but often wasn‘t at all, or not until second or third usage). I think this was rushed to print and needed better editing.

My impression of Trump after reading this: (cont)

This is at least the third time Woodward has used this term (or something very similar). What is “laser-determined?” I have never encountered this phrase before and am very confused by it.

It's unsettling to read, in the final pages of this book, about events that took place only a few months ago, and it's dismaying to retrace the path of COVID-19 while the pandemic is still rampant. This book is the opposite of escapism. Much of it is in the President's own words. It is certainly aptly named.

I really don‘t even have words. Just going to leave this here.

Very disjointed for a Woodward book. Many chapters obviously rely almost entirely on a single source. Others repeat almost verbatim conversations between Woodward and Trump. Trumps‘s statements get very repetitive and Woodward interjects his own views into the convos too often.

I can‘t knock it too much though. It is too rich in information. Rage is invaluable if only for laying out Trump‘s knowledge of COVID in the early days in his own words.

He would never say the military people are stupid (just losers and suckers), then goes on to do precisely that.

I loathe this jackass on so many levels. The military thing is just one more. I‘m a veteran, as is my brother and his wife, my father, countless uncles, a cousin, my grandparents on my dad‘s side, and my husband currently serves. Guess we‘re all stupid losers.

This kind of stuff is one of my pet peeves. The M in ICBM is “missile” therefore “ICBM missile test” is “intercontinental ballistic missile missile test.”

Likewise ATM machine, and less commonly encountered START treaty.

Up next!
#athinsliceofanxiety #rage #bobwoodward #donaldtrump

Started this one today. A whopping nine pages so far! At least to this point it‘s interesting and not traumatizing (yet) - that‘s farther than I expected already.

Biggest problem is that I just can‘t look at that face.

#BookReview ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bob Woodward is amazing. There‘s really nothing else to say.

I finished this last week but wanted to see the debate before reviewing. Posted it yesterday, since this week was 🍌👖. Woodward is objective and highly skilled. Having 17 interviews with 45 makes this different than other books about his administration. Not surprisingly, Woodward struggles to wrangle him. Still, those few unvarnished moments are chilling and worth it.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #litsypolitico

“During the Top Secret President‘s Daily Brief the afternoon of Tuesday, January 28, 2020, discussion in the Oval Office turned to a mysterious pneumonia-like virus outbreak in China.” #firstlinefridays

Jesus. 🤦🏻‍♀️ #rage #bobwoodward #notmypresident #votehimout #grabhimbytheballot

Picked this up at the library today. Will be starting it in a few days, which bumps down everything except the current read. I‘m not looking forward to it, exactly, but I believe it will be enlightening.

Twenty-three chapters in, and my most pervasive thoughts are f Bill Barr, and f Mitch McConnell, and f Lindsey Graham, and, of course, f 45. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #rage #bobwoodward #notmypresident #votehimout #grabhimbytheballot

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ For a recap of the current white house shit show, read investigative journalist Bob Woodward‘s Fear + it‘s new follow up, Rage. For Rage, he conducted 17 on-the-record Trump interviews which heavily focus on the COVID pandemic, racial division, and the 2016 and 2020 elections. Additional deep background interviews with various others lend important depth and detail. This megalomaniac has no moral compass. Vote him out. 🗳

"'This degradation of the American experiment is real. This is tangible. Truth is no longer governing the White House statements. Nobody believes--even the people who believe in him somehow believe in him without believing what he says.'"

Extraordinary quote from Jim Mattis. Terrifying, really.

We all know that rage is exactly what I‘m gonna‘ feel while I‘m reading this, but here we go anyway. (Well, I‘m full of rage always re: 45, but.) #rage #bobwoodward #votehimout #notmypresident #moroninchief #grabhimbytheballot

This is such a hard listen 😔😒

I read Fear so of course had to read this as well. Bob Woodward is one of my favorite writers!

A little humor goes a long way.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trumps-agreeing-to-talk-to-woodw...

And here‘s a gratuitous cat photo.