One of our book club members who reads mostly nonfiction mentioned that she had read Dinners With Ruth - A Memoir on the Power of Friendship (#1,126) by Nina Totenberg. Since I am a fan of both Nina Totenberg and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, I rushed home to reserve the book so I could read it for myself. The interesting thing to me was that our book club member was a fan of neither women, but still thought the book was worthwhile.
As I read it, I could hear Nina's voice in my head narrating. Whenever Nina does a piece on the Supreme Court on NPR, she makes the complex issues fit together in a way that makes sense. I feel that I now have a grasp of the issues at stake. Given the complexity of the law, that is not an easy task!
Nina's relationship with Ruth Bader Ginsberg was a blessing and a retreat for both of them, as is evident in this memoir. Neither had an easy path as each blazed her trail in her chosen field. The miracle was that their paths intersected at the right time and place.
Not only does Nina talk about her relationship with Ruth, but she talks about her two husbands, her early widowhood, the many justices she met and befriended along the way, and, of course, her co-workers at NPR, particularly Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts. Socializing in Washington, D.C. was an important part of life there, and Nina and her first husband Floyd Haskell, a former Senator, and her second husband, surgeon David Reines, were very much a part of it. It was a fascinating glimpse into her life to imagine her cooking for her own dinner parties!
Nina Totenberg has covered the Supreme Court long enough to be taken aback by recent changes in the makeup and actions of the current Court. I'm not sure she'll ever retire, but she'll be covering a different animal in the future.
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