Bookish Quote of the Day!!!

 

CBS Sunday Morning - Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden speaks out on her firing by Trump

 

Dr. Carla Hayden is such a smart and articulate woman. I'm sorry to learn that she'd been dismissed as the Librarian of Congress.

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

 

I love reading historical fiction novels. I've been aware of Marie Benedict as an author for quite sometime now. In fact, I have a few of her novels in either my 'to be read' pile or on my ever growing reading wishlist. However, I hadn't read any of Marie Benedict's novels until June 2025.

I decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict, which is nicely narrated by Mozhan Marnò.

I think one of the many reasons I enjoy reading historical fiction novels is because I enjoy seeing how an author will portray the interactions between historical figures. In this case, we have Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva Marić, featured front and center in The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict. Mileva Maric is clearly the main character with Albert Einstein as the secondary character.

I found the writing for The Other Einstein to be riveting and very engaging for the most part. The storyline and character development were also well done. 

I enjoyed learning more about the life of Mileva Maric as I never knew she existed until reading this novel. Mileva was a brilliant mathematician and physicist. She met Albert Einstein while both were attending college and the pair fell in love during their college days. Albert Einstein was sweet, romantic and tender towards Mileva Maric. However, over time, Einstein becomes more egotistical, especially as he becomes more famous. Mileva becomes pregnant out of wedlock with Albert's child, byt Albert refuses to marry her at the time. Once married, the pair continue to work intellectually on Einstein's work. It seems like Mileva had contributed significantly towards Einstein's work, but she isn't given credit for her help. Albert is even unfaithful to Mileva during their marriage and eventually treats her badly the more famous he becomes. Mileva eventually divorces Einstein and is given custody of their children.

In the author notes at the end. Ms. Benedict goes into the research she performed in order to write this novel. Ms. Benedict also sites where she found some of the information she discovered while researching for this novel.

The only major disappointment for me was that the last section of the novel. Section three was a bit drawn out for my liking. I felt like it could have been shorter. Additionally, I felt like Einstein was made to look like a major creep when it came to his personal life with Mileva Maric. If he was a major creep, how far do you go to drive the point home in a work of fiction?

Below is the publisher's summary for The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict from the Goodreads website:

A vivid and mesmerizing novel about the extraordinary woman who married and worked with one of the greatest scientists in history, written by New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict!

In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. It is the story of Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.

Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.

I am giving The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Bookish Quote of the Day!!

 

Caribbean-American Heritage Month - Caribbean Themed Books I'd Like to Read!

Until earlier this month, I had no idea that June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month! 

Below is a list of books I'd like to read that are tied to the Caribbean in some way. Some of the books are fiction and some are nonfiction.

1. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
2. Monster in the Middle Tiphanie Yanique
3. Pleasantview by Celeste Mohammed
4. Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
5. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S Naipaul
6. The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
7. Running Sideways by Pauline Davis
8. Miss Pat: My Reggae Music Journey by Patricia Chin
9. Of Women and Salt by Gabrielle Garcia
10. The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

Have you read any of the above books? Do you have any Caribbean books you would recommend for future reading? Please share your thoughts in the comment section!

LGBTQIA+ Books I Want to Read!

June is known as Pride Month. Back in June of 2022, I posted my top ten LGBTQIA themed books to read for Pride Month. All of the books listed in my post were ones I'd already read. Click on the above link to see which LGBTQIA books I've already read.

For this post, I wanted to focus on ten LGBTQIA themed books I would like to read in the future.

1. We Are Only Ghosts by Jeffrey L. Richards

2. The Evolution of Love by Lucy Jane Bledsoe

3. Flux by Jinwoo Chong

4. Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

5. Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn

6. Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba

7. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

8. Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings

9. The Secrets of My Life by Caitlyn Jenner

10. Pageboy by Elliot Page

Have you read any of the above books? Do you have any LGBTQIA+ book recommendations? Share in the comment section below.

Warren Buffet's Four Investment Book Recommendations

I stumbled across an article published on CNBC titled, Warren Buffett recommended these 4 books to learn about investing by Taylor Locke. In the article, Taylor Locke wrote the following:

A few years ago at a dinner, Trey Lockerbie, founder and CEO of kombucha company Better Booch, met billionaire Warren Buffett. He took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about investing, Lockerbie said on “The Good Life” podcast with Sean Murray on Dec. 14.

Lockerbie, who was at the time an avid options trader (a more risky method of investing in which a trader can bet on which way the market will swing), asked Buffett whether books by Benjamin Graham, who was Buffett’s mentor, were somewhat outdated. Graham wrote “Security Analysis” in 1934 and “Intelligent Investor” in 1949.

Buffett — widely regarded as the best investor alive — has used the same strategy of value investing taught by Graham for decades. So Buffett suggested that Lockerbie reread Graham’s books and focus on the chapters about the psychology of investing, Lockerbie said.

In addition, Lockerbie told “The Good Life,” Buffett recommended he read two books by the late economics commentator George Goodman, who wrote under the pen name “Adam Smith.”

Click on the above link to read the full story and view Buffett's investing book recommendations. 

Calling All Jane Austen Lovers!! Visit the “Undressing Jane Austen’s World” Exhibit at DC’s DAR Museum.

Late last month, I came across an article titled, Jane Austen Exhibit Celebrates Beloved Author’s Literary Fashion by Madeline Weinfield. In the article, Madeline Weinfield wrote the following:

It is a universally acknowledged truth that to love Jane Austen is to love the clothing depicted in her novels. It is also a truth universally less acknowledged that her novel’s subsequent screen adaptations have taken some liberties with the wardrobes of Austen’s characters.

A new exhibit at DC’s DAR Museum shines a light on the clothing and fashions of the beloved writer’s world and characters. It also dispels some commonly held misconceptions about the sartorial customs of her age.

Wow! If I lived closer to Washington D. C., I'd love to see the "Undressing Jane Austen's World" exhibit in person. What an interesting exhibit to offer on the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.

Click on the above link to read the entire article by Madeline Weinfeild and also visit the link for the DAR Museum website.

Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston

 

My husband and I have watched the Money Guy Show with hosts, Brian Preston and Bo Hanson, on YouTube for quite  a while now. We enjoy watching their show and the content they provide in terms of finances, building wealth, and retirement planning.

My husband and I took the plunge and decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston, which is well narrated by the author. 

I enjoyed the content for  Millionaire Mission very much. I also like the layout for Millionaire Mission and how its organized in a succinct manner. The nine step system to building wealth, which Brian Preston outlines in his book, is easy to follow and understand. Brian Preston gives loads of examples in his book on how to build your wealth over the long haul. No quick get rich schemes here. Time and compounding interest are just a couple of important topics/concepts discussed in Millionaire Mission. I actually found it fun to learn more about personal finances as the information provided isn't dry or boring.

Listening time for Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston is 7 hours, 3 minutes.

Below is the publisher's summary for  Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston from the Goodreads website:

There’s a better way to do money. Taking control of your financial freedom is simpler than you think. In fact, your money should work harder than you do.

Brian Preston, host of The Money Guy Show and cofounder of Abound Wealth Management, lays out a nine-step system for building wealth with the money you already have.

Remember “PEMDAS” from grade school? It’s an acronym that helps break down complex math problems into simple steps. When it comes to managing your money, following a similar process—the Financial Order of Operations— will demystify your dollars and show you the way to build transformative wealth with the tools you already have available:

1. Keep Your Financial Life Out of The Ditch (Cover Your Highest Deductible)
2. Love That Free Money (Max-Out Your Employer Match)
3. The Joneses Are Broke and Miserable (Pay Off High Interest Debt)
4. Rainy Day Done Right (Build Emergency Reserves)
5. Tax-Free Armageddon (Max-Out Tax-Free Growth with Roth and/or HSA Contributions)
6. Max-Out Retirement Options
7. Building That More Beautiful Tomorrow (Leverage Hyper Accumulation)
8. Funding Abundance Goals (Prepay Future Expenses)
9. Debt-Freedom (Prepay Low-Interest Debt)

Millionaire Mission helps you account for your blind spots, overcome the fear of making wrong decisions, and take the guesswork out of what to do with your next dollar.

You can own your time and own your life. Stop worrying so much about money and start focusing on what really matters to you. Millionaire Mission will do more than help you optimize your army of dollar bills—it will motivate you to be the best version of your financial self. What do you have to lose? Let’s discover what small decisions you can make today to move you closer to your more beautiful tomorrow.

I am giving Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston a rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars.

My husband and I loved this nonfiction book so much, we sent the hardback edition of Millionaire Mission by Brian Preston to our niece as a gift. She's a recent college graduate and we thought this book would make the perfect gift for someone starting out in their career. We want to see our niece building her financial security over the years to come!

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Books Dealing With Politics, Fascism, History, And/Or Democracy In Some Fashion

I recently finished reading and reviewing The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck. According to the publisher's description, John Steinbeck labelled his work as a "celebration of the durability of democracy." 

Steinbeck's quote started me thinking about other books I've read about democracy, fascism, or how things in society could  go or have gone awry.

The first five books listed are ones I have already read. The remaining six books listed are ones I would like to read.

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell

2. It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

3. The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck

4. Shameless by Brian Tyler Cohen

5. Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright

6. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

7. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley

8. Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley

9. How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley

10.The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism by Steven Kornacki

11. What You Should Know About Politics. . . But Don't by Jessamyn Conrad

Have you read any of the above listed books? If so, did you like them? Share your thoughts!