Good morning! Today is Wednesday, August 3, and you are reading today’s section of Examiner+, a digital newsmagazine serving Westchester, Putnam, and the surrounding Hudson Valley.
First off, long time no talk! It’s been a while since I participated in the Examiner+ writing game. I’ll work on that.
I’m back for another one of my “recent read” lists. The last couple received some kind feedback, so I figured I’d take another crack at it.
By the way, before I get to it, just a heads up that I’ll be in touch in a few weeks (if, ahem, all goes as planned) with some news on how we’re working to enhance Examiner membership. Still hashing out some final details.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
I started my summer reading early last month with Katie Tur’s Rough Draft. One might fairly roll their eyes at a not-even-yet-mid-career broadcast journalist penning a SECOND memoir by age 38. But Tur delivers the goods. While she spills considerable ink about her tumultuous time chronicling the bizarro 2016 Trump campaign, the real meat of the book examines her rocky childhood, especially her relationship with her famous-ish father — who is now a woman. Her father and mother were pioneering, controversial, hard-charging TV journalists in Los Angeles as she was growing up. We readers eventually learn how weathering her father’s domineering, abusive behavior uniquely prepared her to cover a certain bully on the campaign trail years later. Check this one out; you’ll be done in four to five sittings. It moves fast.
Speaking of page-turners, I got my beach read in last week while on vacation. Family of Liars by E. Lockhart is ideally suited for my short attention span when it comes to fiction. The storytelling is somehow both rich and brisk. Once I swiped the book from my wife’s vacation handbag and started reading, I remembered having started Lockhart’s earlier We Were Liarsa few years ago. It’s a testament to the author’s inimitable writing style — character descriptors like “she was strawberry jam, scabby knees, and a small hand in mine” — that I was jolted to recall the cadences of We Were Liars after scanning the opening passages of this prequel. You might be put off somewhat by the privileged Sinclair family and their private island off the coast of Massachusetts. But you’ll be quickly engrossed, eager to unearth all the buried scandalous family secrets.
Bouncing around a bit, I was on a politics kick after reading Tur’s memoir. I had just seen a segment with the great Mark Leibovich on Morning Joe, so I impulse-bought Thank You for Your Servitudeon my Kindle, even as I had been trying to avoid book choices that fed into my confirmation bias. Anyhow, Leibovich is a hell of a reporter, a wonderfully vicious writer, and an incredible observer of human nature, especially when it comes to blowhard politicos. While some of the book rehashes well-chronicled Trump offenses, there are more than enough morsels of reporting goodies to keep you entertained and informed. Leibovich trains his keen eye on prominent, amoral, Trump-era GOP enablers. Comically (tragically) transactional weasels like Lindsey Graham and Kevin McCarthy. Any pondering you’ve done over the question of “did they know better” is asked and answered. It’s an unambiguous “yes,” revealed in the enablers’ own words, thanks to Leibovich’s journalistic chops, especially in the interviewing department. If you’re seeking a cathartic experience featuring the verbal evisceration of the historically spineless, this book is for you.
I’m in the midst of reading Nike founder Phil Knight’s 2016 memoir, Shoe Dog. It was recommended to me a few years ago by my childhood friend Jeff — he even lent it to me, and I was too swamped at the time — and again a couple of weeks ago, pre-vacation, by my occasional tennis friend/all-time great neighbor Josh. I’m glad I finally got to it. Knight’s story of entrepreneurship so inspired Jeff at the time that he started his own grassroots apparel side hustle. As for Josh, he is one of the best-read guys I know and as thoughtful and publicly philosophical as anyone can get while remaining firmly normal. His endorsement guaranteed for me there was something meaningful to learn from Knight’s journey. It turns out Knight is not just a brilliant business owner but also a gifted storyteller with a captivating writing voice. There’s plenty to criticize about Nike/Knight, and that’s a separate conversation for a different day. But, speaking as someone who started a business myself, I’ve never read a book that better captures the spirit and passion required to build a successful enterprise from scratch. (And I’m only halfway through as of today’s writing.)
Anyway, there have been a couple more summer reads, but I’m already about 100 words past the self-imposed word count I had set for myself. Will save the other recommendations for a September column.
Till next time!
Adam Stone is the publisher of Examiner Media. When not running local news outlets or chauffeuring his children, Stone can be found on the tennis courts at Mt. Kisco’s Leonard Park, on his Ipad playing chess, or on the floor cleaning after his two dogs.
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