True Stories that Inspired Much Googling - Books Read 10/9/19

I'm making time in my day to read again and I've got a couple of recommendations for you that I'd LOVE to talk more about offline!

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

Three Women is a nonfiction book with a really crappy title (inspiring a blog post I’m soon to write about good books with crappy titles) that tells three true stories of desire and bad behavior and desperation.   One story is of a student/teacher relationship that had me googling all sorts of things and I finally had to make myself stop.  Another is of a really strangely open marriage that sounded the most interest but was the story that was the least engaging.  And finally, we read of a woman entangled in what was a nothing-new cheating situation but my God – the way this author illustrated this woman’s desperation was – it was genius.  It was genius!  It made me sick to my stomach almost.  Haven’t we all been there in a relationship to some small degree and then we catch ourselves and retain some amount of dignity?  But this story shows what happens when someone is unable to really catch herself. 
There’s also an exploration of the theory that women are a little more at fault in illicit relationships because they should know better, they have some amount of control.  I appreciated that it was an exploration rather than an explanation and it provided food for thought without turning into some sort of essay.
I’d love for you to read it so we could talk about it.  But be warned – this book is extremely saucy.  Don’t read it at your desk over your lunch hour.  Don’t read it where someone could look over your shoulder. 
I would have given it four stars, but I docked a star for two of the three stories feeling almost abandoned midway.  THEN WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?

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Scarred by Sarah Edmondson
WTF!
Despite having four kids and a husband and a full time job and probably some other life responsibilities, I dove into this book like you dive into bed and throw your covers over your head after a long day and I didn’t truly emerge until I was done. 
Then I finished the last page and stumbled around aimlessly…. I did some research and followed the author on Twitter.  Now I feel like enough time has passed that I can talk about it.
So – true story.  Recent story.  Story involving mildly famous people.  SCARY story.  VERY WELL TOLD STORY. 
What starts out as a hippy dippy Multi Level Marketing self-help (obvious scam) for the author evolves into a huge career and way of life and is then clearly a cult and then evolves into what is clearly actually a sex cult.  My God. 
And if you’ve ever been involved in MLM anything, which I have so I’m not judging, you can understand how it could be a perfect cover for a cult. 
Reading this book was like watching the whole train wreck take place.  Fascinating and awful!  There were a few times when I felt like she was rehashing and rehashing and then I realized that she was putting the reader right there with her – as concepts were drilled into her head, she in turn drilled them into the readers head so we were along for the ride.  What a trip!
This was a perfect True Crime/Cult book for me because it didn’t involve anything horrible or gruesome (except for one passage in the beginning where the author was branded – yikes!) but it was still super interesting.  It wasn’t always intense, because much of the book describes how members of the cult were slowly groomed.  Still, it kept me in its grip the whole time.
Awesome book!!  Read it and let me know your thoughts!
 
Next up:  I switched gears and decided to start a book that will help me quit eating stupid stuff.  And – it’s working!

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