I really liked the first half of this book. It was so interesting and flowed really well. The last third of the book was harder to push through. It was a lot of dates and names and details about nothing really inciteful. ( )

Laura Bush grew up an only child in Texas. As an only child, she loved reading and later became a teacher and a librarian. Two things that affected her growing up years were: At the age of 17, she was driving with a friend and hit and killed one of her close friends, a boy driving from another direction. The other thing was the shooting President John F. Kennedy in Texas. Laura met George Bush and they were engaged after six weeks. George was very interested in politics and Laura was not, but she helped him campaign as he ran for congress, then governor of Texas and finally President of the United States. The Bush family was left in limbo after the 2000, presidential election when the state of Florida’s election process was in question, and the Supreme Court finally had to rule that the manual Florida recount had violated the Constitution. The event of September 11, 2001 happened during her husband’s presidency. President Bush was flown all of the country during September 11, to make sure he was safe. At the end of the day, Sept 11, the secret service wanted the president to stay away from Washington, D.C., but he insisted that they return to White House to make sure his family was safe. Then came the anthrax mail scare and mail all over the country was held up and examined. Mrs. Bush candidly speaks about her marriage, her relationship to the Bushes and the birth of her twin daughters. She inserts numerous tidbits of history in speaking of their days in the White House. She talks frankly about the White House events, her numerous trips and meeting various people. This is an eye-opening book about Laura’s life and living in the White House. ( )

More like 3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading this. I learned a lot about the ways Mrs. Bush used her platform to advance literacy, women's health and education, and other causes, most of which I remember hearing little about at the time. The tone is reserved, but her classiness and warm heart for others shine through. In many ways, the best part of the book is the scene-setting of the first two chapters, as she reminisces about her dusty West Texas upbringing. The section on 9/11 also brought back startlingly visceral memories, reminding me just how scary the aftermath was, as well as what a weird time the early '00s were to be coming of age.

She also writes movingly of the odd melancholy of being an only child, and of the longing for children. ( )

With rare intimacy and candor, Laura Bush writes about growing up in the boom oil town of Midland, Texas as an only child to marrying into one of America's most prominent political families. ( )

I started American Wife because it was “loosely based on the life of Laura Bush”. Didn’t finish that book but this book was a much better use. Of my time. ( )