True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal–and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life Kevin Sorbo Da Capo Press (October 2011), Hardcover (ISBN 0306820366 / 9780306820366) Memoir, 296 pages Portions of this review were originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (10/21/11), which supplied an Advance Reader Copy (furnished by the publisher) and payment. All opinions expressed are my own. Kevin Sorbo played the title role in the popular action drama Hercules: The Legendary […]
This is a compensated review originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers and is reprinted here with permission. The cover image shown is an affiliate link to IndieBound.org. Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall Anna Funder Harper Perennial (2011) trade paperback original (ISBN 1862075808 / 9781862075801) History, 304 pages The Berlin Wall existed for forty years as both a physical and symbolic barrier in a city and a country divided by ideology; it’s been over […]
This is a compensated review written for Shelf Awareness for Readers and is posted here with permission. A Year and Six Seconds: A Love Story Isabel Gillies Voice (August 2, 2011), hardcover (ISBN 9781401341626) Memoir, 256 pages Isabel Gillies believes it takes a full six seconds to fall in love. However, one has to be ready and willing to experience those six seconds. After Gillies’ first marriage ended, it took about a year for her to […]
This is a compensated review originally written for Shelf Awareness for Readers and is posted here with permission. Where You Left Me Jennifer Gardner Trulson Gallery Books (August 30, 2011), hardcover (ISBN 9781451621426) Memoir, 256 pages The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center took their single greatest toll on the financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost more than 600 employees. Jennifer Gardner’s husband Doug was a senior executive at Cantor, and was […]
So far – 24 years into my chosen career – I’ve never lost a job. My fingers are crossed that the streak will continue, but who knows? The recession we can’t shake has hit a lot of mid-career workers at a point where they might have expected security and stability, setting them adrift at an awkward age – too old for entry level, too young to retire. When House & Garden magazine shut down in […]
The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired CHICAGO Douglas Perry (book page) Penguin (Non-Classics) (2011), Paperback (ISBN 0143119222 / 9780143119227) History (20th century), 320 pages (including references) Source: Publisher (new paperback edition), for review Reason for Reading: Unputdownables’ Early Reader Group selection Opening Lines: “The most beautiful women in the city were murderers. “The radio said so. The newspapers, when they arrived, would surely say worse. Beulah Annan peered […]
The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games TrilogyLeah Wilson, editor/various contributorsSmart Pop (2011), Paperback (ISBN 1935618040 / 9781935618041)Literary essays, 224 pagesSource: PublisherReason for reading: Personal interest Book description, from the publisher’s website: “Katniss Everdeen’s adventures may have come to an end, but her story continues to blaze in the hearts of millions worldwide.In The Girl Who Was on Fire, thirteen YA authors take you back to Panem with […]
Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True StoryIsabel Gillies (Twitter)Scribner (2009), Hardcover (ISBN 1439110077 / 9781439110072)Memoir, 272 pagesSource: received secondhand from another bloggerReason for reading: personal Opening lines: “One late August afternoon in our new house in Oberlin, Ohio, my husband, Josiah, took it upon himself to wallpaper the bathroom with pictures of our family.” Book description, from the publisher’s website: Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life—a handsome, intelligent, loving husband who was a professor; two glorious […]
American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot Craig Ferguson (Twitter) Read by the author It Books (HarperCollins) (2010), Paperback, 288 pages (ISBN 0061998494 / 9780061998492) (Audio edition 0061961450 / 9780061961458) Source: Purchased audiobook Reason for reading: Personal Book description, from the publisher’s website: “In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson delivers a moving and achingly funny memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to […]
Bossypants Tina Fey read by the author Reagan Arthur Books (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 9780316056861 / 0316056863) (Audio edition 1609419693 / 9781609419691) Memoir/essays, 288 pages Source: Purchased audiobook Reason for reading: Personal Book description, from the publisher’s website: “Before Liz Lemon, before ‘Weekend Update,’ before ‘Sarah Palin,’ Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She […]
Nerd Do Well: A Small Boy’’s Journey to Becoming a Big Kid Simon Pegg (Twitter) Gotham (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 1592406815 / 9781592406814) Nonfiction/memoir (mostly), 368 pages Source: ARC from publisher, via TLC Book Tours Reason for reading: Blog tour, known writer (although not known for books), guilty-pleasure genre Opening lines: “It was never my intention to write an autobiography. The very notion made me queasy. You see them congesting the bookshop shelves at Christmas. Rows […]
Planting Dandelions: Field Notes From a Semi-Domesticated Life Kyran Pittman (blog) Riverhead (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 1594488002 / 9781594488009) Nonfiction/memoir, 256 pages Source: ARC from publisher (pub date April 2011) Reason for reading: review, personal interest, Memorable Memoirs Reading Challenge Opening lines (from the Introduction)*: “I jumped the white picket fence. Not in the way the story usually begins, with the hero breaking out, busting loose, setting off across the wild world in search of her […]
