Melania and Me

 

I gave Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's memoir tell-all, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady 3 stars on goodreads. It didn't give me much insight into Melania. She is pretty much the shallow person that I thought she might be. But when I read this a story of an uneven friendship that eventually exploded, that's where it held some interest to me.

Unlike Wolkoff, I was in a friendship where I gave much more than I got. Not nearly as extreme or high-profile as this situation. Plus I never felt as used as Wolkoff, nor was I thrown under the bus like Wolkoff. But I gave more than I got. And eventually I was forced to walk away from the friendship. 

Most of the "juicy" bits about Melania had already been shared on TV so I really didn't need to read them here. I also felt my eyes glaze over as Wolkoff went into the finer details of some of the inaugural stuff. I really didn't care then, I don't care now, and I doubt that I will ever care.

If you're curious, it's a pretty quick read. But that's about it.

Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump

I seem to be reading all the trashier tell-all books about trump. Michael Cohen’s memoir, Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump, was the latest.

If you’ve ever heard Michael Cohen speak, well, that’s exactly how he writes. Doesn’t appear to be any ghost writer here! In my opinion, he seems sincere. He’s sincere about coming to the realization that sticking with trump was cultish. This book also seems like a sincere attempt at getting back at trump in some way. And I’m totally fine with this. I took what he said with a grain of salt, but even if only half of it is totally accurate, that’s a lot of bad stuff.

Because Mary Trump is a psychotherapist, I expected to find her book, Too Much and Never Enough, the most insightful regarding trump’s mental health. I actually found Cohen’s book more revealing. I definitely have a better understanding of trump’s behaviors after reading this book.

It’s a sad story. Yes, Michael Cohen was thrilled to be in trump’s orbit. However, he really paid a price with his family, even before he spent time in prison. And the story of trump makes me feel sad for any involved in his wrongdoings who just kind of got sucked in.

Next up in the tell-all book club… Stephanie Winston Wolkoff’s Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady. This e-book checked out of the library just as I started Disloyal. No way could I read these two back-to-back.

I started Moonglow by Michael Chabon right after finishing Disloyal. I thought that would be a big change. It was. Unfortunately, Moonglow was a bit too heavy for me to read right now. I need lightness. I dropped Moonglow and am now reading Squeeze Me. It’s never a bad time to read Carl Hiaasen.