I can point to two specific pieces of satire that inspired me pick up HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton by Jonathan Allen and Amir Parnes: SNL’s cold open (above) from their Feb. 13 show and this article from The Onion, Female Presidential Candidate Who Was United States Senator, Secretary Of State Told To Be More Inspiring.

Both of these pretty much capture the conflicted feelings I have about Hillary Clinton and her campaign. On the one hand, she’s clearly the most qualified candidate either party has offered, and I don’t think there’s any doubt that she would make an excellent, historic president.

But there’s something about her or her candidacy that has failed to energize me and many other voters… despite the fact that Bernie Sanders running as an anti-establishment candidate after 25ish years in the Senate is silly, and the Republicans are (at the time I’m drafting this review) poised to endorse a candidate that represents the worst of their party. How can I feel this ambivalent about Hillary when the alternatives are so unlikely?

HRC looks at a very specific period of Clinton’s political career, her defeat in the 2008 Democratic primary and her subsequent career as Secretary of State. The authors – political reporters from Politico and The Hill respectively – argue that her success as Secretary of State represents “one of the great political comebacks in history.”

During that time, Clinton went from being hated by members of Obama’s inner circle to being one of the president’s most influential advisors. She cemented her reputation as a talented stateswoman, improved America’s standing abroad, and left herself open to run again in 2016 (although the book, published in 2014, merely speculates on what that might be like).

The period covered in the book is nearly identical to the timeframe of another book on Clinton that I really enjoyed, The Secretary by Kim Ghattas, but takes a different frame, looking less at Clinton’s specific priorities abroad and more at how her time at the State Department affected her political career and legacy. In that respect, HRC is a book I’d recommend to political junkies, while The Secretary has more broad appeal to readers interested in international issues.

So did this book change what I think of Hillary Clinton? Yes, a bit. Nearly everyone interviewed for the book – many speaking on anonymously, which I’d argue gives them a license to speak frankly – commended Clinton for her work ethic and command of the myriad of topics presented to her. She worked hard on issues with no obvious political benefit, and has a warmer and more caring personality than she’s really allowed to display on the campaign trail. (Check out this Daily Beast piece by Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau for an idea of what I mean).

On the other hand, the book also offers some smart analysis of the Clinton’s political network and the way both Bill and Hillary use political favors and intimidation to get what they want. It’s really clear where that sense of sleaziness with them as a couple comes from, even though the authors don’t push on that subject as much as they could have. Maybe all of that isn’t much different from how other politicians operate, but it’s still contributes to that sense of raw, crazed ambition that Kate McKinnon captures so well in her impersonation of Hillary.

Hillary Clinton, for better or for worse, is one of those public figures who will continue to court controversy as long and she continues to seek public office. For those looking to learn more about her, HRC offers a nuanced look at her philosophies on foreign policy, a strong sense of her personality and work ethic, and a sampling of the kind of political pressure she and her allies use. I’m glad it read it, even if I still don’t know where I stand on her candidacy.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links through Amazon. If you make a purchase through any of those links, I will receive a small commission.

Goodbye February, and good riddance. It’s just been a downer of a month that I am not sad to see gone by the wayside. The sad events were certainly punctuated by some fun moments – new car! Newsies! – but overall I just look back on it with a sigh.

My reading felt slow most of the month, until late last week when I suddenly turned into a reading fiend. I hope I can settle into a more manageable pace soon, but I’m trying not to worry about it too much because why bother? Here’s what I finished in February:

• Stars Above by Marissa Mayer (short stories, YA fantasy)
• The Interstellar Age by Jim Bell (nonfiction)
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (fiction, comics)
• These Vicious Masks by Taron Shanker and Kelly Zekas (fiction)
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (fiction)
• HRC by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes (nonfiction)
• Cat Person by Seo Kim (comics)
• Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart (fiction)
• Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti (nonfiction, reread)

It’s hard to pick a favorite because most of them seemed to be the exact book I wanted to read in the particular moment I picked them up. Both American Born Chinese and These Vicious Masks were perfect when I was sad and distracted, both funny and smart. The Signature of All Things was gorgeous (if just a little bit too long), and HRC scratched my itch for political comfort reading as the primary season has worn on. All in all, it’s a good month to look back on, reading-wise, even if everything else felt like a garbage fire.

A Look to March

This month, I am committed to finishing Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I fell off the bandwagon for the #HamAlong, but I need to prove to myself that I can knock out an epic white dude biography if the occasion calls for it. I’m thinking that if I commit to one chapter each day, I can be done by the end of the month.

Other than that, I’ve got a few review copies on my desk that look like they could be fun: A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood (YA short stories about awesome ladies), Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart by Claire Harman (biography), Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein (nonfiction), and The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell (fiction, about the only remaining descendant of the Brontë family).

Julianne (Outlandish Lit) is hosting the #Weirdathon in March, a “month-long reading challenge to expand your reading horizons and find the strangest books you can.” That sounds super fun, so I’m going to try and participate. I’m not sure quite what I have on my shelf that I would consider weird, but I’m going to take a look.

Overall, I think it’s going to be a pretty good month of reading. And fingers crossed life on the person front makes an improvement as well.

What books are you excited to read in March?

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links through Amazon. If you make a purchase through any of those links, I will receive a small commission.

Briefly | I have been in the worst sort of funk all week. I can’t quite pin down the cause, but I think it’s a combination of delayed stress from all the personal crap that’s been going on this month and dismay at our current political climate. The February funk is real and awful and I can’t wait to be on the other side of it.

Reading | On the plus side, I seemed to have turned the corner where reading is finally soothing and helpful again and ended up reading a ton this week. Books finished include The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (fiction), HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton by Jonathan Allen and Amir Parnes (nonfiction), Cat Person by Seo Kim (comic) and Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart. They were all the exact book I wanted to read at the moment I picked them up, so all ended up being just great. I’m not sure what is in the queue for today… something fun, I think.

Watching | The boyfriend and I watched Spectre (oh my gosh, SO BORING) and Waking Ned Devine (charming!) this weekend.

Listening | When I told my sister I was in a major funk, her first question was whether I’d listened to Hamilton lately… I had not! So, it’s been a Hamilton-fueled weekend.

Blogging | It’s been a quiet week on the blog, I just posted a review of The Interstellar Age by Jim Bell.

Promoting | Are you a book blogger who will be attended Book Expo America 2016 in Chicago? Join the Facebook group we’ve started to help bloggers connect and ask questions before the conference.

Promoting II | If you love Harry Potter, you must read The Setup Wizard, the “daily accounts of a Muggle I.T. guy working at Hogwarts.” So great.

Hating | Everything? That’s not true, it just feels that way.

Loving | On Saturday our high temperature reached almost 60 degrees. It was glorious! I went for a walk outside and we opened all our windows to air out the house a little bit. That brief, sunny glimpse of spring was badly needed.

Avoiding | Everything? That’s also not true… I’ve been reasonably productive this weekend and finished most of my hated chores, so I can relax most of the day today.

Anticipating | Work this week is going to be a little crazy, but I like being busy and having events to cover so it should also be fun. And Minnesota’s caucus is this Tuesday, so I guess we’ll get to learn whether Minnesota Republicans are as angry as everywhere else. Fingers crossed so hard on that one.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links through Amazon. If you make a purchase through any of those links, I will receive a small commission.

Last year, I started to get on a little bit of a kick for books about space and space travel. It started with Chris Hadfield’s really wonderful memoir An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth and continued with Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean. And then of course there was The Martian (audio book and movie), and following Commander Scott Kelly on Instagram during his year in space aboard the International Space Station.

All that to say I was pretty excited to get a review copy of The Interstellar Age: The Story of the NASA Men and Women Who Flew the Forty-Year Voyager Mission by Jim Bell, an account of the men and women who manned the two Voyager missions that launched from Earth in 1977. Over the last 40 years, the spacecraft have provided some of the most iconic photographs of our solar system, collected and transmitted data about little-known planets, and made the journey out of the Solar System and into interstellar space.

It’s truly incredible to think that these machines have been operating successfully for that long, that we have the capability to transmit information from distance parts of the galaxy, and that these machines could be intercepted by other intelligent beings as they continue their journey into the unknown. Bell, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and president of the Planetary Society, clearly approaches the subject with affection and enthusiasm, which I appreciated.

Unfortunately, The Interstellar Age was a little too heavy on the science for my taste, and didn’t dig deep enough into the personal stories of the scientists who participated in the Voyager missions for me to fully get into the story. Bell did interviews with many of the scientists involved with Voyager over the years, but their stories did a lot of telling, not showing, and didn’t give the necessary narrative flair to make up for the more difficult science passages. It’s hard to get some of that drama as part of a retrospective, but I wish there was a little more push to get a sense of what it felt like to be in the room during the major parts of each mission.

Despite my interest in space, The Interstellar Age didn’t quite find the balance between science and story that I look for in my nonfiction, but I know other readers with more patience for astrophysics will find a lot to enjoy in this book.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links through Amazon. If you make a purchase through any of those links, I will receive a small commission.