Book Review 1 & 2 By SVB

Tango: An Argentine Love Story, Camille Cusumano
I’m trying to remember what this book is about. It has something to do with the authors’ first person account of cheating on her long-time live in boyfriend (With her tango partner!), and then being hurt when he in-turn runs off with a mutual acquaintance……or something like that. So she decides to dive deeper into tango, and go on a journey of self-discovery.
The author has two very unfortunate practices that really make the book uninviting. First, as the story is being told, she keeps reminding us how deep, spiritual, zen, and together she is……and how long she’s done yoga. But the stories as told are ordinary and pedestrian. These self-congratulatory reminders of the authors’ mindfulness and enlightenment seem to come out of nowhere, and are very distracting. I don’t think you tell people you’re deep you are – it’s something they need to decide for themselves. The other distracting practice is the placement of these little sex related stories that occasionally pop up in the book. For example, one of these salacious titbits is the recollection of an incident with a French cab driver that occurred many years ago. It has no relation to anything in the book, seems to come out of nowhere, and doesn’t go anywhere. What does this have to do with anything? I hope I’m not creating curiosity, because the story is about as interesting and exciting as an AstroTurf welcome mat. All I could think about after reading it was “Did the Marketing Department put this in to spice-up a book that really needed something to keep the reader awake?”
I must confess, I didn’t bother to read the whole book, and there might have been something good in the second half that deserves a star. For that reason: One star out of five.

Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home, Maria Finn
This is another book from the “I just split with my ex and took up tango” shelf at Barnes and Nobel. It’s a star above the Cumaro book, at least it’s more honest and the author is less self-absorbed. It’s really more like reading someone’s journal. Hold me tight, take me home, buy me cheesecake, whatever…… This book isn’t going to hurt anybody. Two stars out of five.

Thanks Steve! You're book reviews will help me know what to read ... reading a bunch of tango books is on my to-do list :)