Barbara Brown Taylor, best selling writer, teacher, and former Episcopal priest delivered a thought-provoking and at times humorous lecture on the subject of “Alarming Grace: A Christian Perspective.” Diane has read most of Barbara Brown Taylor’s memoirs. When she was reading Taylor’s newest book, Holy Envy (2019), Diane said, “You need to read this Introduction.” I read the Introduction where Taylor writes about teaching an 8:00 A.M. college class in Comparative Religion. I’ve taught plenty of those early classes over the years. Taylor’s descriptions of the sleeping students in the last row, the students in the middle of the class fading in and out of consciousness, and the alert students in the front row writing down every word is spot on. Great writing and astute realism!

Barbara Brown Taylor’s lecture was Standing-Room-Only and interrupted by high winds and rain (yes, many lectures are delivered in outside venues at the Chautauqua Institution). Diane was out in the elements sitting with friends while I sat indoors in the Hall of Christ watching a live video feed of Barbara Brown Taylor. Taylor engaged the audience and kept everyone’s attention despite the wind and the rain. After the lecture, Taylor answered some questions and clarified her thoughts. Diane was thrilled to hear one of her favorite writers. I enjoyed Barbara Brown Taylor’s excellent lecture and witty style. Of course, Diane and I had to dash to our vehicle when the clouds dumped more rain on the Chautauqua Institution’s parking lot! GRADE: A
BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR MEMOIRS:
Holy Envy, HarperOne in 2019
Learning to Walk in the Dark, HarperOne, 2014
An Altar in the World, HarperOne, 2009
Leaving Church, HarperSanFrancisco, 2006

This Second Edition of I Will Teach You to Be Rich (2019) isn’t as snarky as the First Edition. Ramit Sethi presents an approach to maximize your money and–in theory–make you Rich. Of course, the only proven ways to have more money is to spend less or make more money. But Ramit Sethi explores several options to manage your money more effectively. I learned new facts about credit cards and banks that I didn’t know. You might find the sections on credit cards enlightening, too.

I really enjoyed Sethi’s rant against “experts.” He supplies several examples where financial experts were very wrong in their predictions. Sethi counsels caution when investing in stocks and bonds. He is not a fan of Real Estate. Sethi breaks down the pluses and minuses to owning a house versus renting.

I read this edition of I Will Teach You to Be Rich from cover to cover. But, if you check out the TABLE OF CONTENTS you’ll see that you can browse this book for the topics that most interest you. Ramit Sethi’s thoughts on money and spending make sense to me. If you’re interested in improving your financial situation, I Will Teach You to Be Rich is a marvelous place to start. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
An Open Letter to New Readers 1
Introduction: Would You Rather Be Sexy or Rich? 6
Why do people gain weight after college? The similarities between money and food
Counterintuitive but true: We need less personal-finance information
Common excuses for not managing money
You’re not a victim-you’re in control
Stop debating minutiae and focus on the Big Wins
The key messages of I Will Teach You to Be Rich
“Rich” isn’t just about money: What does it mean to you?
Chapter 1 Optimize Your Credit Cards 23
How to beat the credit card companies at their own game
Why Indian people love negotiating
Stop being intimidated by your credit cards
Picking the best card for airline miles, cash back, and rewards
The six commandments of credit cards
How to negotiate with your credit card company to get fees waived and receive lower rates
Secret perks your card offers
Why you should always buy electronics, travel, and furniture on your credit card
What not to do with your cards
The burden of student loans
When credit cards go bad
Five steps to getting rid of debt
Week One: Action Steps
Chapter 2 Beat the Banks 69
Open high-interest, low-hassle accounts and negotiate fees like an Indian
How banks rake it in
The bank accounts I use
Why you really need a separate savings account
Opening high-interest, no-fee accounts
Why people stick with terrible bank accounts
Five marketing tactics banks use to trick you
Negotiate out of fees with your current bank (use my script)
Week Two: Action Steps
Chapter 3 Get Ready to Invest 94
Open your 401(k) and Roth IRA-even with just $50
Start investing, step by step
Why your friends are scared of investing
Investing is the single most effective way to get rich
Where should your money go? Introducing the ladder of personal finance
Mastering your 401(k)
Crush your debt
The beauty of Roth IRAs
What about robo-advisors?
The exact account I use
Feed your investment account
HSAs
Beyond retirement accounts
Week Three: Action Steps
Chapter 4 Conscious Spending 126
How to save hundreds per month (and still buy what you love)
How to spend extravagantly on the things you love and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t-without making an annoying budget
The difference between cheap people and conscious spenders
How my friend spends $21,000 per year going out-guilt-free
Using psychology against yourself to save
The four buckets: fixed costs, savings, investments, and guilt-free spending money
The envelope system for not overspending
What if you don’t make enough money to save?
How to make more money
Handling unexpected expenses
Week Four: Action Steps
Chapter 5 Save While Sleeping 167
Making your accounts work together-automatically
The power of defaults
How to spend only 90 minutes a month managing your money
Ways to use psychology to help you save money
Create your automatic money flow
Using your automated finances to fuel your rich life
Week Five: Action Steps
Chapter 6 The Myth of Financial Expertise 188
Why professional wine tasters and stock pickers are clueless-and how you can beat them
Who should you trust?
Experts can’t guess where the market is going
How experts hide poor performance
You don’t need a financial adviser
Behind the scenes: When two wealth managers tried to recruit me
Active vs. passive management
Chapter 7 Investing Isn’t Only for Rich People 212
Spend the afternoon picking a simple portfolio that will make you rich
The beauty of automatic investing
Asset allocation: more important than the “best stock of the year!”
Retiring in your 30s or 40s: The FIRE movement
Convenience or control? You choose
The many flavors of stocks and bonds
Creating your own portfolio: How to handpick your investments
Investing the easy way: target-date funds
Feeding your 401(k) and IRA
The Swensen model of asset allocation
Insane crypto “investments”
Week Six: Action Steps
Chapter 8 How to Maintain and Grow Your System 260
You’ve done the hard work: Here’s how to maintain (and optimize) your financial infrastructure
Feed your system-the more you put in, the more you’ll get out
Ignore the noise
The tricky part of managing your own portfolio: rebalancing your investments
Nutty beliefs about taxes
When to sell
For high achievers: a ten-year plan
Giving back-an important part of being rich
Chapter 9 A Rich Life 282
The finances of relationships, weddings, buying a car, and your first house
Student loans-Pay them down or invest?
How to help parents who are in debt
The big conversation: talking about money with your significant other
Should you sign a prenup?
Why we’re all hypocrites about our weddings (and how to pay for yours)
Negotiating your salary, I Will Teach You to Be Rich style
The smart person’s guide to buying a car
The biggest big-ticket item of all: a house
The benefits of renting
Is real estate really a good investment?
Planning for future purchases
Your Rich Life: Going beyond the day to day
Acknowledgments 335
Index 336

Awkwafina (aka, Nora Lum) stars as a struggling artist named Billi in New York City. Billi loves her grandmother, Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao), who lives in China. Billi and her mother (Diana Lin) and father immigrated from China to America 20 years ago. When Billi learns her beloved grandmother has Stage Four lung cancer, she immediately wants to fly to China to take care of her. But, Billi’s mother, father, and entire Chinese family decide to keep this knowledge from Nai Nai. Director Lulu Wang based this movie on the actual “white lie” that she and her family told her own grandmother who was diagnosed with cancer.

Much is made in the movie about the differences in Eastern and Western thought. Billi, Americanized and modern, wants to share the medical information with her grandmother. But, peer pressure from her family force her to remain silent. A wedding between Billi’s cousin and his Japanese fiancé (played brilliantly by Air Mizuhara) is pushed forward as the reason for the entire family to gather together around Nai Nai.

The cast is great, but Lulu Wang could have cut the wedding festivities short. If you’re in the mood for a wonderful family drama with some humor, I recommend The Farewell. GRADE: B+

I’m a fan of Richard Russo’s comic novels, The Risk Pool, Nobody’s Fool, and–my favorite–Straight Man. The Destiny Thief is a slim collection of Russo’s non-fiction, but his humor and wit shine through every essay in this book.

My favorite essay is “Getting Good,” as in getting good at writing. Here’s a little of what Russo says about that:

“Systematically removing potential naysayers–teachers, agents, other writers, editors–from one’s life might feel liberating, but its likely effect is to lengthen, not shorten your apprenticeship. John Lennon, playing eight-hour shifts in Hamburg strip clubs with his fellow Beatles, must have felt like a slave, and like every slave he must’ve resented his shackles, but he would’ve noticed which songs worked best and which parts of the songs garnered the most applause. Most importantly, when the drunks’ gaze drifted back to the naked girls, he would have heard that silence loud and clear, even over the thunder of his amplified guitar, and understood it as advice: Stop doing this, or Stop doing it this way, or Try something else, because this isn’t working.” (p. 90-91)

Russo, who loves music, also shares the story where he bought an excellent 12-string guitar. And, although he practiced and performed with it, Russo realized the instrument was better than his modest skills. He abandoned his dreams of a music career and focused on writing.

I enjoyed Russo’s “Address to the Graduates of Colby College” which is full of practical advice. After reading Russo’s praise of Dickens’ “The Pickwick Papers” I wanted to drop everything and reread that classic! I had the same reaction after finishing “Mark Twain’s Non-Fiction.” “Imagining Jenny” tells a moving story of one of Russo’s friends who transitions from a male to a female with Russo’s support. And I really enjoyed Russo’s comments on Ross Macdonald and Eudora Welty especially their correspondence in Meanwhile There Are Letters in “The Boss in Bulgaria.”

All in all, The Destiny Thief delighted me with its wisdom and charm. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The Destiny Thief 3
The Gravestone and the Commode 25
Getting Good 45
Address to the Graduates of Colby College 107
The Pickwick Papers 117
Imagining Jenny 131
What Frogs Think: A Defense of Omniscience 155
Mark Twain’s Nonfiction 177
The Boss in Bulgaria 193
Acknowledgments 207

The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Homes and the Sussex Sea-Devils is the third book in Jame Lovegrove’s trilogy of Holmes/Cthulhu adventures. You can read my reviews of Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows here and Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities here. Once again, Sherlock Holmes and Watson face dangers from the realm of H. P. Lovecraft’s monsters. Three women are missing and Holmes suspects they’re going to be used in a cult ritual to bring Dark Forces to our planet.

If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes and Cthulhu you’ll find suspense, action, and a wild ending to this faux-Holmes trilogy. Hope you enjoyed another Sherlock Holmes Week! GRADE: B

Claire O’Dell presents Sherlock Holmes and Watson as African-American women in a near-future dystopia. The United States is beset by a New Civil War. The New Confederacy disrupts day-to-day activities. And cults like The Brotherhood of Redemption attempt to assassinate the President. Sara Holmes (aka, Sherlock) is suspended from her consultant role with law enforcement after her transgressions in the first book in this series, A Study in Honor (2018). You can read my review of A Study in Honor here.

Janet Watson, with a new high-tech arm, struggles to learn how to use it so she can return to being a surgeon at Georgetown University Hospital. But, Watson finds herself involved in the swirling plots that involve Nadine Adler and mass destruction. Claire O’Dell’s vision of a divided America and violent political movements is both accurate and scary. I’ll be counting the days until the third book in this series shows up! GRADE: B+

Before John Lescroat became a best selling novelist of legal thrillers like The 13th Juror, he wrote two Holmes pastiches. In Son of Holmes (1986) we meet Jules Giraud, a middle-aged spy who narrates the story. Giraud meets Auguste Lupa, child of Sherlock himself and Irene Adler. Lupa, working as a chef in a small French town, is actually a secret agent for the Allies during World War I. Together, Lupa and Giraud cooperate to solve murders that could affect the outcome of the war. I enjoyed the WWI setting and the mysteries swirling around this rural community.

Rasputin’s Revenge (1987) sends Auguste Lupa and Jules Giraud to Russia and the Court of the Czar. There they find a cunning conspiracy. Sherlock Holmes and Watson show up to assist in the unraveling of the complicated plot. If you’re in the mood for historical mysteries with a Holmes pastiche flavor, I recommend Son of Holmes & Rasputin’s Revenge. GRADE: B

I was only familiar with Nancy Springer’s fantasy novels before I accidentally found The Case of the Missing Marquess at a Library Book Sale. Nancy Springer introduces Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’s little sister. Enola’s mother has disappeared and Sherlock seems uninterested so young Enola decides to undertake a search. The Case of the Missing Marquess is a Young Adult book, but adults can read this tangled story and find enjoyment. Nancy Springer went on to write five more stories in the Enola Holmes series. I’ll track them down, read them, and review them in the coming months. If you’re looking for a different type of faux-Sherlock Holmes adventure, you’ll mystery and suspense here. GRADE: B
The Enola Holmes Mysteries
The Case of the Missing Marquess (2006)
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (2007)
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets (2008)
The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan (2008)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (2009)
The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye (2010)

Two Sherlock Holmes pastiches for the price of one! Lois H. Gresh’s mashup of Sherlock Holmes and H. P. Lovecraft takes Holmes and Watson into three bizarre adventures. You can read my review of the first book–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions (2017)–here.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Neural Psychoses (2018) sends Holmes and Watson to London’s drug dens to investigate mysterious devices called Eshockers which create addicts for electro-stimulation. Once again, Professor Moriarty and his gang of killers meddle with forces beyond this world and their understanding. Two women who are critical to summoning the sleeping Cthulhu–Amelia Scarcliffe and Maria Fitzgerald–fall into Moriaty’s clutches. Only Holmes and Watson can stop the Earth’s destruction. GRADE: B

In Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Mutations (2019) Holmes and Watson travel to America to fight the forces of Dagon, a creature who rules the waters around Innsmouth, Massachusetts. Moriarty attempts to channel the awesome powers of Amelia Scarcliffe and Maria Fitzgerald to create powers beyond human conception, but the incredible presence of Cthulhu comes into play. If you’re in the mood for excitement, thrills, and over-the-top battles with extraterrestrial creatures, the Sherlock Holmes Vs. Cthulhu series will cause you to scream for more! GRADE: B

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth movie in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series. Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous characters are “updated” to 1940s. Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is a very loose adaptation of Holmes short story, “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” (though the only element from the story used in the film is the “dancing men” code).

Less a mystery than a spy film with the background oF World War II, the move centers around the kidnapping of a Swiss scientist by Professor Moriarty. Moriarty plans to steal the new super bomb sight and sell it to the Nazis. Holmes and Watson have to crack a secret code in order to stop Moriarty and prevent the bomb sight from falling into the hands of the Nazis. Sure, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is a step above wartime propaganda, but I’m a fan of these Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce movies. Do you like these Rathbone/Bruce movies, too? Do you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes and Watson movie? GRADE: B