Recent reading: "The Mueller Report"

Shortly after the release of the long-awaited Mueller report, I joked on Facebook, "So, if I manage to slog my way through the complete (redacted) 448-page Mueller report, does that count towards my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal for the year??"

Most of the commenters said yes. One of my cousins said, "It also counts toward sainthood," lol.

While I'm not holding my breath for canonization ;) I DID in fact download & slog my way through the entire 448 pages.  And I'll be damned if I don't get credit for it, lol.  ;)

Yes, some of it was pretty eye-glazing. I'll admit to skimming through some of the legalese, and the long passages in the Russia investigation section detailing who emailed who about what and when, etc. The second section, on obstruction of justice, is a much easier read.

(There's a list of acronyms and "cast of characters"/who's who at the back, which I wish had been available up front! -- Interestingly, there are even some entries in this list of names that are partially or fully blacked out too!) 

But my overall impression is that this was a thorough investigation, albeit limited within certain parameters, which are explained in the report.  The level of detail was impressive -- and damning (even without knowing what's behind the black bars that cover 8-10% of the content).

A lot of what's in the report will be familiar to anyone who's been paying attention to the news -- which, as some have pointed out, vindicates the (non-Fox News -- cough, cough...) media coverage of the Trump presidency to date. More often than not, journalists got the story right. (The report does add more details/background to some previously reported events.)

There's a lot more I could say, but I think I'll leave things here. I'll just say that the entire report is worth reading -- but if 448 pages seems too daunting, there are lots of great summaries out there (and I'm NOT talking about the infamous four-page Barr memo, lol). (If you want a chuckle, you can also have a look at Alexandra Petri's "book report" in the Washington Post.)

The ball is now in the court of Congress -- and the American people.

This was book #11 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 46% of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. :) (I did not assign a star rating to this "book.")