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A Truck Full of Money
By Tracy Kidder
Random House, 9780812995244, September 2016, 288pp.

The Short of It:

If you are into the start-up culture and enjoy seeing ideas comes to fruition, you will find something of value in this read.

The Rest of It:

This is the story of Paul English, a kinetic and unconventional inventor and entrepreneur, who as a boy rebelled against authority. Growing up in working-class Boston, English discovers a medium for his talents the first time he sees a computer. As a young man, despite suffering from what would eventually be diagnosed as bipolar disorder, he begins his pilgrim’s journey through the ups and downs in the brave new world of computers. Relating to the Internet as if it’s an extension of his own mind, he discovers that he has a talent for conceiving innovative enterprises and building teams that can develop them, becoming “a Pied Piper” of geeks. ~ Indiebound

If you paid attention to the title of this post, you’ll see that this was a DNF (did not finish) for me . This is a rarity, especially when it comes to a book club pick, which is what A Truck Full of Money was to me. I try really hard to finish all book club selections but I just could not get past the 45% mark on my Kindle.

It’s well-written, so it’s definitely not the writing that caused me to eventually give up. No, I believe it was the subject matter. I work in Information Technology. I am surrounded by programmers and application developers but within the higher education sector so I expected to be somewhat enlightened to this new world of start-ups but I was bored people! Bored out of my mind.

At one point, Paul English becomes heavily involved in philanthropy and this part interested me because when someone is in possession of that much money, and we are talking quite a bit of money, it’s admirable when they choose to support charitable causes.

Kidder goes back into English’s childhood and here again, I was kind of pulled in only to be pushed away again. It just wasn’t enough for me to keep reading but he was the founder of Kayak.com and battled bipolar disorder to get to where he is today so I’m not really sure what didn’t work for me because his story is certainly compelling.

Have you read A Truck Full of Money? If so, let me know your thoughts.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Other Mother
By Carol Goodman
William Morrow & Company, 9780062819833, March 27, 2018, 352pp.

The Short of It:

This book will have you second guessing everything you read. It’s impossible to put down once you pick it up because every single page has crazy stamped all over it.

The Rest of It:

I’m not even sure I can write this review without giving something away so I am going to keep it brief.

Daphne Marist is suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter Chloe. She joins a support group at the suggestion of her husband Peter, hoping to find other moms struggling with the same issues. There, she meets Lauren, also with a daughter named Chloë. But Lauren is more pulled together and polished. Daphne can’t help but be in awe of her. That is just the beginning of her problems.

That’s about all I can say without giving anything away but Goodman knows how to keep you guessing and she does it well. Sometimes these unreliable narrators come off as hokey or not well done but that is not the case here. I’d turn a page and go, “Wait what?” and then have to go back a little to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

This story is crazy with a capital C but oh so fun to read. Plus, this book can be read in one sitting. Once I picked it up I just kept reading because I had to know how the story would end.

This is the perfect book to toss into your beach bag but not if you want to actually pay attention to the gorgeous views because your nose will be in the book the entire time.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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