"The Education of Brett Kavanaugh" by Robin Pogrebin & Kate Kelly

I started reading "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation" by Robin Pogrebin & Kate Kelly a year to the day after Christine Blasey Ford gave her riveting testimony to the U.S. Senate Judicial Committee, claiming that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh had assaulted her when they were both teenagers in the early 1980s.

New York Times reporters Pogrebin & Kelly broke some important stories during the confirmation process. In this book, they go over what happened, how Ford decided to come forward and how she wound up testifying in Washington. They also bring new information to light, including witness accounts that were never pursued by the FBI, and testimony from others who have not spoken publicly until now.

I thought this book was well written, and a pretty thorough and fair/even-handed account, presenting information to support and challenge both Kavanaugh's & Ford's stories. In the final chapter, the reporters weigh in with their own thoughts about what happened.

Jill Filipovic's review in the Washington Post says it all better than I can, lol.  :)

Four (4) stars on Goodreads.

Inspired by the coverage of the Kavanaugh nomination & Ford's allegation, I wrote last year about my own memories of growing up and partying in the late 1970s/early 1980s & how different things were then, here.

This was book #35 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 146% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 11 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 8 books.  :)

Right now

Right now... (an occasional meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current")

Reading:  5 (!) books in September (all reviewed during September on this blog):

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 
• American Carnage by Tim Alberta 
• Up Beaver Creek by Sue Fagalde Lick -- our GW book club pick for September. (Sadly, this was likely the last GW book club discussion, as there haven't been too many people participating.)   
• She Said by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey  
• The Vagina Bible by Dr. Jen Gunter 

Current read(s):

• The Education of Brett Kavanaugh by Robin Pogrebin & Kate Kelly 

Coming up:

• Unfortunately, roadwork outside of our building (& changing schedules) meant access in & out of our driveway was blocked last night starting around 7 p.m. -- which meant I was unable to leave to attend my library book club at 7, as planned. :(  (Actually, I probably could have left -- just not sure we would have been able to get back in again!)  We were discussing "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng, which I'd already read earlier this summer & reviewed here. 
• October's selection will be "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro, which I bought & read 10 (!) years ago for Mel's Barren B*tches Book Tour (my post from then here). Debating whether to do a complete re-read or just a skim to refresh my memory? 
• "Kate Hardy" will be the next read for my online D.E. Stevenson fan group, before we move on to the final book in the Mrs. Tim series, "Mrs. Tim Flies Home."  Both books share the setting of "Old Quinings" in post-WWII England. 

My Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge YTD total now stands at 34 books -- 7 more than my goal of 24 (142%).  :)

(Some) recent purchases/additions to the TBR pile (that I haven't read yet):

• Truth Be Told by Beverly McLachlin (the first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada)
• Inside Out by Demi Moore. 
• Had it Coming by Robyn Doolittle 

Watching:  In-theatre movies seen in September:

• Downton Abbey (if you loved the TV series, you will love the movie).
• Judy with Renee Zellwegger as Judy Garland, near the end of her far-too-short life. If you know anything about Judy Garland's life, you'll know this movie is not exactly cheerful stuff. But Renee's performance is amazing (she sings, too -- she's no Judy Garland in that department, but she's not bad either...!). 

On television:

• The final season (#5) of Poldark began this past weekend on PBS.  This season is straying beyond the material in Winston Graham's books, picking up where the last season of the TV show left off (which covered up to the end of book #7, "The Angry Tide"). Book #8 ("The Stranger From the Sea") takes a leap in time of 10+ years -- a gap the producers apparently felt was too big for the current cast to take -- and so they've used the screenwriter's imagination to continue the story (this article explains).  We'll see how it all works out...!
• We both thoroughly enjoyed Ken Burns's recent series on the history of country music on PBS.  I wouldn't say I'm a huge country music fan, but I've gained an appreciation for it and some of its artists (Patsy Cline, Roseanne Cash, Dolly Parton...) as I've gotten older.  I surprised myself by how many of the artists I knew & how many of the songs I could sing along to...! 
• I am beyond thrilled that CBC has brought back Battle of the Blades! -- a reality competition show, which pairs hockey players (both male & female) with figure skaters, skating for their favourite charities. One pair gets eliminated every week, through a mixture of public voting and judging decisions. Outside of Canada, you can't view entire episodes, BUT, apparently you can view individual performances on YouTube, and vote for your favourite team each week!  (It's still early in the competition, but I am thinking Ekaterina Gordeeva & Bruno Gervais are looking like the team to beat -- and I have a soft spot for Manitoba-born Sheldon Kennedy & Kaitlyn Weaver!) 

Crossing my fingers: A touring production of  "Hamilton" is FINALLY coming to Toronto in February for a couple of months... subscribers to the full season of programming get first dibs on the tickets and then the rest of us get to fight it out for what's left, once they go on sale (sale date still TBA). Wish me luck!!

Listening:  To the Stingray classic rock channel we get as part of our TV package. The other day they were playing "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers. Not a song I especially loved, growing up, but one I heard a lot of... it was there, like the wallpaper, lol. There is something very comforting about the music of your youth, I think. (Even when it's something less mellow than the Doobie Brothers -- like Led Zeppelin, lol.)

Following:  The unfolding impeachment drama in the U.S. Funnily enough, I think my memories of Richard Nixon's impeachment investigation (1973-74, when I was 12-13 years old) are much clearer than Bill Clinton's, when I was in my late 30s. Maybe because the Clinton inquiry unfolded throughout 1998/early 1999... when I was (cough) otherwise preoccupied.

Drinking/Eating: (Canadian) Thanksgiving turkey dinner with my family, soon!

Smelling:  What I thought was a skunk... but apparently is more likely pot (especially since we're smelling it in the hallways as well as through the open balcony doors...!).  I didn't realize until chatting with my sister this summer, but apparently today's pot does not smell the same as the stuff  that used to waft through the halls of my university dorm, 35-40 (*cough cough*) years ago. (And we've been smelling "skunk" a LOT more frequently since cannabis was legalized here in Canada earlier this spring...!  "Thanks, Justin!" dh says, rolling his eyes.)(So THAT explains why there seem to be an awful lot of skunks hanging around our building lately, lol...)

Buying (besides books, lol):  Birthday & Halloween gifts to take for the Little Princesses, and adorable outfits for my soon-to-born (as yet unnamed) great-nephew. My most recent find:  I couldn't resist a red & black flannel lumberjack-style onesie and tiny matching plaid flannel-lined jeans with the cuffs turned up, both from Baby Gap.

Wearing: I managed to get through September without having to put on my long jeans, socks & shoes (remaining in my beloved capris & sandals).  (Loving that!)  Sadly, though, I think those days are coming to an end very soon... if not here in southern Ontario, then definitely when I head home to Manitoba to visit my family shortly...!

Trying:  To avoid the current federal election hoopla, lol.  Counting the days until it's over (on Oct. 21st)! It seems like it's dragging on forever, and yet the entire campaign from start to finish is 40 days (which is pretty much the average for Canadian election campaigns -- I found this Wikipedia entry on Canadian elections, which says, "The length of election campaigns can vary, but under the Elections Act, the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days and the maximum length of the campaign is 50 days." ).  I don't know how the Americans do it...!!

Wanting:  All the roadwork & construction hereabouts to be DONE, ALREADY!!!  It's been dragging on almost since the day we moved in 3.5 years ago, and we are SICK OF IT!!! (See also "Reading," above, lol.)

Feeling: Excited to be heading "home" to see my family soon, albeit slightly anxious to be doing it solo (my first solo trip in a long while).

Wondering:  How it got to be October 1st and where 2019 went?? -- it's already 3/4 over!! Yikes!! 

#MicroblogMondays: "Diversify your identity"

A fellow CNBCer shared this article on a private forum recently. It's about identity and how so many of us wrap ourselves and our sense of value and self-worth up in one particular idea of who we are supposed to be -- a successful business man, a professional athlete.

"If you invest all of your identity in one basket, then you put your self-esteem and emotional well-being at risk," the article says.

"Many of us get fixated on certain aspects of our identity more than others. Social pressures can also force us into over-identifying with a certain aspect of our identity, which then drowns out other areas of our lives."

The article quotes Tim Ferriss, author of "The 4-Hour Work Week," who mentions a concept called “identity diversification:”

When you have money, it’s always smart to diversify your investments. That way if one of them goes south, you don’t lose everything. It’s also smart to diversify your identity, to invest your self-esteem and what you care about into a variety of different areas — business, social life, relationships, philanthropy, athletics — so that when one goes south, you’re not completely screwed over and emotionally wrecked.

Of course, the woman who posted this article (and those of us who read it) viewed it through the lens of infertility and childlessness. For all the progress women have made in so many spheres, many of us still stake a huge part of our identity and self-worth on motherhood and our children. What happens when that particular part of our life vanishes (when the children grow up and leave the nest) -- or (in the case of infertility & loss) never materializes to begin with?

Read the article & tell me -- what do you think?

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here. 

"The Vagina Bible" by Jen Gunter, M.D.

If you haven't been following Dr. Jen Gunter on social media, you should be. :)

I will admit to a small bit of bias when it comes to Dr. Jen: she is from Winnipeg, Manitoba (my home province) and attended medical school at both of my alma maters --  the University of Manitoba and the University of Western Ontario (albeit a few years after I graduated from both institutions).

Moreover, from an ALI perspective, Dr. Jen is "one of us."  She lost one of triplets during her pregnancy, and her other two sons -- now teenagers -- were born extremely premature.

"I found separating the facts from the fiction difficult and I am a doctor, so I started thinking if this is hard for me how does everyone else manage?" she writes in her online bio. "It put the bad information that my own patients were bringing into the office in perspective. I know people sit up late at night Googling things and fall down rabbit holes of misinformation because I’ve been there!"

After writing "The Preemie Primer," based on her experiences with her sons, she decided to turn her attention to reproductive health, "because it seems the Internet is infested with snake oil and malignant misinformation." She first came to public attention when she began challenging the "wellness" industry -- in particular Gwyneth Paltrow's business Goop, and its promotion of jade eggs, coffee enemas, vaginal steaming and the like. More recently, she's been an outspoken advocate of reproductive choice in response to draconian new laws being enacted in the United States (including refuting outrageous claims about ectopic pregnancies being made by certain politicians).

If you're in Canada, you can watch "Jensplaining" on CBC's Gem streaming service: 10 episodes of 10-15 minutes each, tackling topics such as menstruation, menopause, childbirth, vaginas, sex, weight loss, vaccines and beauty products.  Dr. Jen provides facts, debunks myths, smashes taboos and questions the patriarchy -- all with humour and plain old common sense. I've watched all 10 episodes on my laptop, and loved every one of them.

Last month came Dr. Jen's latest book:  "The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina: Separating the Myth from the Medicine." This is her area of expertise, and it shows.  It's a thorough, detailed, entirely readable and easy to understand book (written in non-jargony language) about every aspect of this often-misunderstood part of the female anatomy, which debunks myths, educates and empowers readers.  Some of the topics covered include definitions/an anatomy lesson, cleaning & maintenance, menstruation, menopause, sexually transmitted infections, conditions (everything from yeast infections to pelvic organ prolapse) and symptoms.

I particularly loved the last section, "Putting It All Together," in which Dr. Jen gives us a peek inside her medicine cabinet, tells us how she'd edit ours, advises us on getting reputable health information from the Internet, and challenges some persistent myths/old wives' tales. (Sample: On coffee enemas for anything (!):  "Dear God, no... I. Just. Can't. Even.  First of all, this is a waste of good coffee.")

Says Dr. Jen:

The patriarchy and snake oil have had a good run, but I'm done with how they negatively affect and weaponize women's health. So I am not going to stop swinging my bat until everyone has the tools to be an empowered patient and those who seek to subjugate women by keeping them from facts about their bodies have shut up and taken a seat in the back of class. 

That's my vagenda.

This is one of those books, like "Taking Charge of Your Fertility," that I wish I had had when I was growing up and starting to learn about my body, and one that I think all women need to read, or have on hand to dip into when they have questions. (Men would learn a thing or three or ten if they read it too.) It's a fabulous and much-needed resource that deserves to be widely read and shared. We need more Dr. Jens.... and I hope she will be writing many more books like this one in the future.

Five stars on Goodreads.

This was book #34 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 142% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 10 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 7 books.  :)

"She Said" by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey

"She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement" by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey was one of those books that I snatched up as soon as I saw it on the bookstore shelf, and dived into reading as soon as I had finished my current book. It's not a terribly long book (260 pages of text), and it was a compelling read. I blazed through it in just a few days. 

"She Said" is the story of how these two New York Times reporters investigated longstanding allegations of serial sexual abuse against  Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, culminating in a ground-breaking story published on October 5, 2017. There are no huge new revelations here (although several previously anonymous sources agreed to go on the record and be named in this book for the first time).  It's a behind the scenes look at how these two fine journalists pursued their story, cultivated their sources and encouraged them to go "on the record," uncovered disturbing patterns of behaviour that occurred over decades, and gradually built the case that led to Weinstein's downfall. 

The book also chronicles the fallout from their reporting, the rise of the #MeToo movement and other related stories, including Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in September 2018.

As a one-time journalist/communicator myself, books like this are like catnip to me. :)  These women are as much my heroes (heroines?) now as Woodward & Bernstein were to me when I was a teenager. :)  Several reviewers, in fact, have drawn parallels between this book and Woodward & Bernstein's classic "All the President's Men" (reviewed here). Both books are classic case studies in how journalists do their jobs. (The technology used may have changed, but the basic techniques have not.)

Some reviewers have questioned the inclusion of Christine Blasey Ford's case in this book (as another example of women's testimony challenging powerful men, in the wake of the Weinstein revelations). I will admit, I felt like this was stretching the story out a bit -- but the behind-the-scenes look at Ford's decisions to come forward and then to testify, and her trip to Washington to do so, was irresistible.  Likewise, the final chapter -- a meeting Kantor & Twohey convened with many of their main sources at Gwyneth Paltrow's home in Hollywood to compare notes and share what had happened to them since the Times' stories were published -- might have been a little contrived, but it was still amazing to read about. (Oh, to be a fly on the wall...!)  It also reminded me of the comfort -- and power -- women who have gone through similar traumatic experiences gain when they find each other & tell their stories -- both online & in "real life" -- something those of us in the ALI community know very well! 

Five stars on Goodreads

This was book #33 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 138% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 9 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 6 books.  :)

#MicroblogMondays: Getting ready

Yesterday afternoon, we picked up SIL to go see the "Downton Abbey" movie (if you loved the TV series, you'll love the movie), & then dropped her off again later. We went into the house to say hi to BIL, & he urged us to go upstairs & see the progress they'd made on the baby's room.  (Older Nephew & his wife have been living in the basement, but will be moving upstairs once the baby arrives in mid-November, taking over the two bedrooms that were once occupied by both Older & Younger Nephews.)

It's not finished yet (with a little under two months to go till due date)... but it's coming along. Between them, Older Nephew & BIL have painted the room in two different/complementary shades of grey-blue (and Pregnant Niece-in-Law, who has a degree in fine arts, plans to paint a mural on one of them). BIL found, bought & installed a light fixture shaped like an airplane. The comfy rocking chair we'd bought them as a gift sat in the corner. There's an IKEA cube shelf fixture full of toys & children's books that belonged to Older Nephew & his brother (some of them gifts from dh & me).

The crib and chest of drawers they'd ordered arrived last week.  BIL & dh picked it up and hauled it all upstairs, piece by piece, and BIL & Older Nephew assembled it. There's no mattress or bedding yet. 

It's beautiful.

I gave dh a bit of a hug as we stood there, looking at that crib. 21 years ago, during that brief time of reprieve, when we got an all-clear on our amniocentisis results after weeks of anxiety and uncertainty, we'd gone looking at nursery furniture, but hadn't yet ordered anything when our world came crashing down around us.

I closed my eyes and felt tears sting, briefly, thinking of the baby and the nursery that never materialized.

And then I thought about the new little great-nephew who (God willing, and knock loudly on wood) will be sleeping in this very crib in another several weeks. And I opened my eyes, and smiled.

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here. 

"Up Beaver Creek" by Sue Fagalde Lick

"Up Beaver Creek" by Sue Fagalde Lick is this month's selection at the Gateway Women private community's book club (online discussion coming up next weekend).  Sue is a fellow CNBC-er who blogs at Childless by Marriage (as well as Unleashed in Oregon), and the author of several books.

Those familiar with Sue's blogs will recognize that "Up Beaver Creek" is drawn from her own life experiences. As the book begins, our heroine, Cissy Soares -- recently widowed, 42 years old and childless -- has quit her hospital job in Missoula, Montana, put her belongings in storage, rented out her house, cut her hair, gotten a tattoo, changed her name to P.D., and headed to Oregon with the goal of starting a new life and becoming a singer. She winds up house-sitting near the coastal town of Newport, for a landlord who promptly disappears into the ether, leaving her to deal with quirky neighbours, cranky cats, power outages, intermittent cellphone service, leaky roofs -- and other, more consequential disasters. 

The pace was a bit slow to start, as P.D. gradually settles into her new life, but things pick up midway through, and I found myself zooming through the last few chapters to find out what happened next.  I was initially thinking 3-3.5 stars, but I ultimately gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. :) 

I've vacationed in Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast (about 2.5 hours north of Newport) several times, and it's one of my favourite vacation spots ever (the ominous tsunami evacuation route signs notwithstanding...!) -- so I had a pretty clear picture of the area Sue was describing. I will admit I was probably predisposed to like this book on that point alone.  ;) 

What I really like & appreciate about this book is its honest depiction of life as a single, widowed, childless woman, rebuilding her life, coping with all kinds of problems by herself, and finding an inner strength she didn't know she had. I am fortunate enough to be married, but Sue's depiction of P.D.'s grief over the loss of her husband and the life she thought she'd have with him was spot on and something I could very much relate to.  Heroines like P.D. are far & few between;  books with characters like her that don't wind up with a wedding (although there are hints of possible romance in the future) &/or a baby are rare indeed. :) 

This was book #32 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 133% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 8 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 5 books.  :)

Haystack Rock, a Cannon Beach (Oregon Coast) landmark.
(Taken from our hotel, just north of  the town of Cannon Beach proper,
in August 2005, the last time I was there (too long ago now...!).)
When the tide is out, you can walk out to the rock and look at the starfish, anemones and other sea life.