Some library books that I’ve read in the last month or so.
James Madison: America’s First Politician
By Jay Cost. In my slow journey towards reading a biography about every President of the United States, this is the Madison that sat on the library shelf. It’s more an examination of Madison’s political leanings than a straight up biography, but it’s close enough to qualify for my personal metric. It’s perfectly fine, and gave me a nice overview of the fourth president’s approach to Constitutional interpretation, which is all the more interesting given Madison’s massive influence on the actual creation of the document. It’s not the most scintillating read, but I was completely satisfied with the experience.
The Gun Man Jackson Swagger
By Stephen Hunter. Apparently out of things to write about the existing generations of Swaggers who already have their own novels, Hunter tells the inaugural story of the Civil War-era Swagger. It’s a lot slighter than most of his other novels, with a sudden ending that suggests this will be the only Jackson Swagger appearance. I won’t be returning to this any time soon, but I don’t regret spending the time on this.
Child Star
A graphic novel by Brian Brown, this turned out to be what the title suggests: a story about the life of a child tv star and the price of fame at such a young age. Unfortunately, it follows every cliche one would expect. There are absolutely no surprises, nothing to make this worth reading.
Flung Out of Space
The same could be said for this GN by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer. It’s about the life of Patricia Highsmith, the writer of the book “Carol.” (Which inspired the Cate Blanchett/Rooney Mara movie.) Perhaps this could have been interesting, but I got everything I needed to know from Ellis’ foreword. The comic itself added nothing new.
