All that I Have - Castle Freeman Jr.

This was a good book - the main character is a county sheriff to the tune of Andy Griffith. His marriage seems shaky and his career on the edge of obsolescence. There was a mild plot having to do with shady Russians coming to town to do no good - but the main message had to do with the value of tolerance. If you have to come down to the hard line of the law - you have already lost. The best kind of "sheriffing" allows people to do the right thing eventually and staying out of their way. The book was short, only 165 pages - but good to the last drop.

Stealing Love - Mary A. Fischer

I thought this was going to be a story about a woman who steals abused dogs and finds them new homes. Instead, the story was about Mary Fischer's life and how she was affected by all the bad things that her family did to her. Except, I can't see what was so bad for her, especially compared to the horror that her mother experienced, being committed to a mental facility in the early 60s as treatment for depression.

Mary Fischer seems to me to be the most self absorbed, narcissistic, pop psychology riddled human being I have encountered in a long time. Only the last 40 pages have to do with her stealing abused dogs and finding them new homes. She is the absolute judge and jury about the alleged abuse and seems to be looking for congratulations after the fact.

I was fascinated at how she could point any situation back to her and how it affected her. It made for interesting reading - even though she was so unlikable.

Dreams from my Father - Barack Obama

I really liked this book. It was written well before Barack Obama became president and paints a very realistic portrait of who he is as a person. He isn't as slickly guarded as he is now - he speaks plainly about his conflicting feelings regarding race, and life and authenticity. You can tell he isn't a writer - he gets really flowery and preachy sometimes, but he isn't self congratulating or appearing to hold back on how great he is. I was kind of hoping to get an insight about what drew him to Michelle - what kind of a person she is and how she fits into his scheme of life, but that didn't happen in this book. You also don't get a good glimpse of his mother and her influence in his life. His sister Auma was a strong figure and when I finished the book I found myself wondering how she is and what she is doing.

He seemed to be a character in fiction - it's strange to reconcile that character to the person who is now running our country. It would be like if Harry Potter became the school principal or some other type of authority figure. He is more real than before, but reality feels kind of funny.