ASTOR

by Anderson Cooper

I don’t think I ever would have read Astor if my book club hadn’t selected it.  But I was definitely game to read it, since I like Anderson Cooper as a CNN news anchor.  He seems smart, yet humble and establishment, but a little edgy.  I have not read his earlier book Vanderbilt, about growing up in a family with Gloria Vanderbilt as a mother.  I sense that book was popular and well-reviewed, though.

I was really disappointed, then, in what I found in Astor.  I wasn’t expecting it to be particularly heavy or deep, but I just couldn’t believe its degree of fluffiness.  I’m sad to say that even Cooper’s writing style came across as sophomoric. The organization in Astor felt scattered, even random, with Cooper including entire chapters having questionable relevance to his subject.  For these many reasons, naming Astor as a “Not My Cut of Tea” feels like an easy choice. (Liz)