"While he was in the White House, Dad and his strategist Karl Rove had an annual reading contest. The first year, Karl won, but the race was close: his 110 books read to my dad’s 95. These days, Dad outreads us all."
I'm not sure how this has a current rating of 4.16 on GoodReads. It's about as fluffy as a memior gets. Looking for something to humanize and warm you to the Bush family? This is your best bet. Jenna and Barbara tell stories about their family, in a beautiful, loving way, without much challenge or nuance. I had picked this up with the hopes of learning a bit about living in a family where you have different political beliefs - my interest in Barbara Bush had piqued when she was spotted at a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and her work in health care seems very progressive. So I suppose I was hoping for some insight into what it's like to have views contrary to your parents, particularly in such a heightened partisan moment. Though Barbara does address it, it's brief, thinly detailed, and not until the end. To be clear, I did not think this was going to be a book where the twins ripped apart their family (or each other), but I did hope that there would be a bit more meat to their stories. I briefly considered putting it down, but it was such a swift read, I didn't mind finishing it.
Biggest surprise for sure? Learning that G. W. reads so many books - how?! And as president, when?!
2.5 stars.
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