My letter “S” pick for the A To Z Challenge was SPARE by Prince Harry.

I’d just completed a full binge watch of “The Crown” on Netflix right before I started this book, so I had a good foundation of royal family dysfunction, rigid adherence to tradition and protocol, and the inherent blindness to privilege that make up the house of Windsor. All of these come into play in sculpting Prince Harry’s life and this memoir.

In a an unabashed, relatively humble, and frequently diplomatic recount, Harry goes in-depth about his unresolved grief for his mother, his often distant and strained relationship with his father and brother, and his pure, seething hatred of the press and paparazzi (with good reason). Above all, the book discusses his love for his wife Meghan and their children. His relief at having mostly left the royal life and all its restrictions is evident, as is his disappointment in his family for their negligence in standing up for his wife and their marriage.

I found Harry’s descriptions of his time in the Afghan war to be particularly interesting, and his frank discussion of his own mental health issues made me admire him all the more. This book introduced me to the Harry everyone should know. My only complaint is that the chapters were often very short (some are only a page). The book reads more like stream-of-consciousness than a cohesive memoir. This was a great read and I highly recommend it. Four and a half stars.