Tag: Nonfiction

ARC, Books

Book 633: When Brooklyn Was Queer – Hugh Ryan

Geoff W

I’m split on this one. It was better than I thought it was going to be, but not as good as I wanted it to be. I find it very hard for any book to really and truly dig deep into LGBTQ+ history satisfactorily, they’re always scrounging for resources or materials and there are always more questions than there are answers. I reached out to the publisher after I stumbled across this on an LGBT news blog.*

There were times in the book where I kept asking myself, is this really Brooklyn or is it Brooklyn-adjacent or is it “this probably happened” in Brooklyn too (there was quite a bit of this). Ryan was open about there being a lack of primary resources, but I felt that it wasn’t as acknowledged as much as it should’ve been in the introduction and left more to a footnote of the epilogue.
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Books

Book 617: The Book on Rental Property Investing – Brandon Turner

Geoff W

There is so much information packed into this book that you definitely have to read it cover-to-cover and then go back and use it as a reference or re-read each section as you need them.

The writing is straight forward and he offers dozens of tips and tricks for those interested in, those new to, and even those veteran of using real estate as an investment option. Turner walked a fine line of saying this is the best way versus this is what was the best for me, but might not be the best for you. That being said, he did a lot of pimping for BiggerPockets (hand that feeds you, etc. blah blah blah).

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ARC, Books, Professional Development

Book 609: Get It Done – Michael Mackintosh

Geoff W

This book just wasn’t for me. I felt like it took MONTHS to read (it only took two weeks, but it was two weeks too long). The publicist reached out to me a bout this book sometime in 2018 and I just now got around to it, so clearly I needed the time management, but apparently not much else in this book.*

Overall, this book just didn’t sit well with me. I had a lot of issues with how Mackintosh approached his time management system (it’s a WAR, you have to WHACK things) and the layout/formatting of the book had quite a few issues. Mackintosh builds his whole premise on the book that if you have a better time system, know what your challenges are going to be, and set up your goals and limitations ahead of time you’ll be perfectly set to finish a project in 21 days. You can do this with his help by buying the book AND/or subscribing to his class/workshop.

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Books

Book 604: Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies – Michael Ausiello

Geoff W

Talk about a gut punch—I knew going in this one was going to be brutal, I mean it’s right there in the full title: Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, but I was not expecting to cry as much as I did. I’m not talking about a single tear escaping as I gaze wistfully into the distance. I’m talking snot running down my face, holding back sobs, and generally making people uncomfortable around me as I read it.

Yup, you read that right. I didn’t hole in up in my room or stay at home to read this, even with the very clear warning on the cover. I read it in public, on a cruise ship on the way to the Caribbean. Smart right? The timing wasn’t the greatest, but it came in at the library and I’ve been waiting to read it since it appeared on the Towleroad blog, so I figured I would plow through it and I did. I got a chapter or two read on the plane after reading Don’t Be Cruel (#3 & #4) and then blazed through this, snot, tears and all, while laying out by the pool on the ship.

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ARC, Books

Book 600: Shortest Way Home – Pete Buttigieg

Geoff W

Damnit. Now I want to move to South Bend, Indiana—well, maybe only a bit. I love my “mid-sized” Boston and “quaint” Cambridge, liberal East Coast elitist state a bit too much, to really consider it. I reached out to the publisher for a copy of this book after Mayor Pete announced his exploratory run for U.S. President.*

As the first openly gay (married, veteran) person considering a run for this office, of course I wanted to read it. I wanted to know why he felt he could go from being the mayor of small Midwest city to running the United States; I wanted to know his coming out story (it’s what binds us gays [broadly LGBTQ+] together); and I wanted to see what his vision was for the future. Did I get all of this? Not quite. Was it worth reading? Definitely.

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