Going to MIA here for about 2 weeks. I have all the BL-opoly rules and prompts written in a journal and I will be playing along the time I'm gone. I will post updates and reviews when I get back online. Next time I will talk to you I will be living in Wichita, Kansas. 

 

Goodbye UK. You've been good to me and my family and I will always appreciate our time here. 

 

Having finished this book a short time ago, I feel as if I've been put through the wringer emotionally. The lives of President Kennedy and the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy seem to be the stuff of which epic novels and poems are made. Yet, they were very real people faced with many difficult challenges and tragedies. By her own admission, Jackie Kennedy once confided to a close friend that life without JFK would have "all been a wasteland, and I would have known it every step of the way."

The book begins with the moment of John F. Kennedy's election as President of the U.S. in 1960 and takes the reader through the thousand days of his Administration. The reader comes to be acquainted with a variety of people great and small who were either a part of President Kennedy's inner circle, worked closely with him or Jacqueline Kennedy on the various projects and endeavors that came to symbolize the achievements and legacy of the Kennedy White House, or knew the President on a deeply personal, intimate level. This book is no hagiography. Nor is it a scathing critique of the Kennedy Administration. It is, rather, a full, comprehensive, balanced and objective (inasmuch as any account of a great, historical figure's life as a biography can be) of what was a truly remarkable human being and President.

For any reader wanting to know more about JFK and the people whose lives were directly touched and influenced by him, the author has at least 100 pages of notes which amply attest to the amount of thorough research she carried out on her subject: the Kennedy White House years.

 

More than anything, "Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House" has deepened my fascination with President Kennedy. He and his wife inspired Americans to be the best of what they could be, using their talents and labors to help build a better society through public service, encouraged the flowering of the arts and culture in a way that has seldom been done in this country, and spoke to the noblest aspirations of people the world over. Here was a leader with wit, a fierce intelligence, style, courage, great compassion, and class who, even in death, continues to inspire millions. President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy cast a light across the firmament that continues to blaze brightly. This is a book that I RECOMMEND HIGHLY for anyone who wants to understand why they became special to us and remain so.

I liked it.

I would actually give this book 3 1/2 stars. I received an Advance Reader's Edition before publication. Thanks to Random House for sending the book to me.This history of Queen Elizabeth II is detailed; sometimes too detailed. I did not need to read for the 50th time that she greeted each guest with dignity at every function she attended. However, the book was easy to read and contained some interesting information. I was surprised at the lack of maternal skills Elizabeth had. She seemed to feel that she could not be a good queen and a good mother at the same time. I felt so sorry for Charles when he begged not to return to boarding school, but his concerns were down-played and he was sent back to the school he hated. I believe this lack of sympathy to her children, especially Charles, came back to haunt her.The author gives the reader a different view of Diana. She is portrayed as manipulative and vengeful. She accused Charles of having an affair at the same time she was being unfaithful. Queen Elizabeth has had to learn how to deal with the media. Since Diana's death, the Queen has gradually become more popular with her subjects and the media. She seems to have mellowed towards her family and is more flexible in bending the rules in order to save the monarchy. This is seen in the welcome that Catharine Middleton, a middle-class commoner, was received by the royal family.The book begins with Elizabeth at ten years of age and ends with revealing some of the plans for the upcoming Diamond Jubilee in June! In between is a listing of major events, ceremonies, state visits, etc. for the next 75 years. The author seems to believe it was necessary to name every famous person who has met Queen Elizabeth. This eventually gets tiresome. I did not care that the Queen has met Lady Gaga! I didn't care about every trip made by the Queen over the past 60 years. However, I was impressed with the respect the leaders of the Commonwealth give her and her ability to ease conflict between nations in the Commonwealth. She was even able to make the Irish love and respect her. That takes skill!