Category Archives: Anecdotal

Review: Spare by Prince Harry

Posted on by
Reply

Title: Spare
Author: Prince Harry
Publisher/Year:  Random House Publishing 1/10/23
Length:  416 pages

Overview

Little boy, beloved son, brother, husband and father, prince, soldier, and advocate for social causes, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex has lived a life staged in the public eye, and who he really is has been the subject of second guesses, speculation, and projection. But no more. Spare is the up-close, behind the scenes, intimate, and forthright memoir of a man reclaiming his own story – its joys, sorrows, aspirations, conflicts, writ small and large. Pick it up for an unsparing glimpse into an extraordinary life!

My Thoughts

I’ll preface this by saying I USED to be a fan of Prince Harry, but I am no longer. So…if you like him, then perhaps stop reading now. Now…for those of you who decided to stick it out, I have to say something about this book. I have never and will never let a book beat me. Meaning no matter how bad a book is, i’ll finish it. It took me THREE WEEKS to finish this book, and there’s no reason that it should have. it’s 400 pages and that’s really nothing special in my eyes. what the issue was in my mind is that there was no story. It was poorly written and it’s incredibly whiny. For a man who was born into a life with no real struggles, it sure sounds like he wasn’t content, isn’t content with any opportunity that he has been provided and wants the world to pity him.

The book starts on the day of his mothers death. Not the night, but the day – where he makes you feel like he’s been living the best life ever – he says it was his happiest day. and then BOOM. That’s the day that his life went to shit. I don’t believe that’s the case – yes it was traumatic, but he was actually given all the means to cope and survive and chose to whine and blame instead.

From there we get glimpses into other aspects of his life. relationships, his time in school and his time in the army. More about the same stories that we heard about in the Netflix series telling us about how he met Meg and how their relationship evolved. Ironically there were inconsistencies AGAIN from what they shared in initial interviews and then in the series and now in the book. That’s probably one of my biggest issues with them too. But this is a review of the book and not the person.

Anyhow, what you have to suffer through here are recounting of all the wonderful things that he was provided. Houses, opportunities to travel the world and do charity work. Opportunities to provide safety in areas that were under attack and opportunities to provide light to people who were suffering. Yet, what we get in this slow reading, poorly written work is detail that makes him seem far less intelligent than we all wanted to believe he was, and stories that you begged to skip ahead because the level of detail just wasn’t worth the page it was written on.

So, if you feel the need to contribute to their family fortune, get this book, but only if you also want something to bang your head against rather than a wall. It’s not worth it…but that’s just me. Enjoy (or not!)

The Joy Of Reading (at all ages)

Posted on by
1

I know that i typically write reviews but i wanted to share with you something that i found to be really interesting, heart warming and somewhat a result of our technology.  So if you don’t know much about me, i’m a mom of 3 little ones.  i have 3 yr old twin girls and a son who’s almost 2.  We live in NYC and while it’s great on nice weather days because you can take your kids outside for HOURS and enjoy what there is to quench their attention, on those less than nice weather days, you can be stumped.

What i’ve learned though is that my kids thing that Barnes and Nobles is a playroom.  This is FANTASTIC news to any parent because while i don’t always want to spend money on frivolous things, i’m more than happy to buy books on top of books on top of books.

So here’s where my entertainment stems from most recently.  a couple weeks ago, i took all my kids to BN on a Sunday morning, and as soon as we get into the kids sections, one of my girls goes directly to the Dr Seuss section and proceeds to pick up 6 new books that i’m not sure how she knew that we didn’t have.  it literally took her 30 seconds to pick out these 6 and she wouldn’t settle for me getting her anything else.  This of course meant that i had to be equitable with her twin and what she got (which lately has been Strawberry Shortcake or Fresh Beats Band books).  Then my son entered into the game and wanted Blues Clues and Yo Gabba Gabbe.  a lot more money than i wanted to spend later, we were off back to our apartment.

FAST FORWARD to last night.  Typically after we’ve done the dinner routine and baths/PJs, i’ll sit on the couch and pick up my iPad and read a book.  Because we tend to travel quite a bit, my kids all have their own tablets too (kindle fires).  So last night, while i’m reading, they all go scurry off and return a few minutes later and plop them down in what i’m told is ‘circle time’ with their tablets, and they are each reading a book.  at times aloud to each other.  It was quite possibly the cutest thing in the world.

When i asked my kids what they were doing – they said ‘mommy – we’re reading on our ‘puters’ like you’

Parting thought:  What more could a mom want!