I’m currently reading Cracking the Nazi Code: the Untold Story of Canada’s Greatest Spy, about Winthrop Bell and his time as a spy for the British government.
It’s fascinating–the sort of very cautionary tale we probably all need to read right now. But it’s been a struggle to get through, and I’m only 30% finished after plucking away at it for a month or so. It will be on this list soon enough, but not yet.
For a break from that heavy theme, I borrowed Say Everything, by Ione Skye, from my library’s online selection.
I’m clearly going through a memoir phase this year.
Tangent: I think, maybe, I’d like to be a biographer or memoirist when I grow up. I don’t want to tell my own life stories (boring), but maybe I could help others get their stories out there.
That is unless the AI overlords take over all forms of writing. Sigh. I’ll probably still try anyway.
Say Everything is a Hollywood tell-all confessional told by Skye. That’s not usually my thing. I rarely know who the ‘it’ people are when they’re ‘it.’ It’s always years after the fact when I’ve watched something by chance and then get on Google or Wikipedia to find out who that actor was/is.
Yet I still found her book fascinating, and it was an engaging read. By the end I was really rooting for her, even though she doesn’t ask anyone to do so and never portrays herself as a hero nor a victim.
But what really got me is how technically well-written the book is. I don’t know if that’s purely her talent or if there was lots of editing help, but it’s nicely flowy and provides just enough detail without getting hung up on any of it.
It was so good that I finished it 18 days before the library loan was due. You’re welcome, person after me.
This is not a book review.
W.
Photo: California coast, circa 2021. Nothing to do with the book, other than the fact that the book largely takes place in California.
