Disclosures: My thanks to the author, Rebecca O’Connor, for sending me an ARC of this book to review. *The puchasing link at the end of the review goes through my Amazon Associates account. Lift Rebecca K. O’Connor Red Hen Press, 2009 (ISBN 9781597094603 / 1597094609) Memoir, 208 pages Opening Lines: “I should kill the duck. I know how to do it. A master falconer showed me with a deft hand.” Book description: Captivated by a […]
Disclosures: I received this book for review from the publisher via TLC Book Tours; no additional compensation was offered to me, or accepted by me. *The purchasing link at the end of this review goes through my Amazon Affiliates account. The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir John Grogan (blog) Harper (2009), Paperback (ISBN 0061713309 / 9780061713309) Nonfiction/memoir, 352 pages Opening Lines: “The call came on a school night in the autumn of 2002. Jenny was […]
Disclosures: This is a review of an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) requested and received directly from the publisher. The book became available in stores at the end of September 2009. *The purchasing link at the end of the review goes through my Amazon Affiliates account. The Possibility of Everything: A Memoir by Hope Edelman (blog) Ballantine Books, 2009 (Hardcover) (ISBN 0345506502 / 9780345506504) Memoir, 352 pages First sentence: “A ragged, mostly dirt road twists through […]
Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading – A Reading Memoir Lizzie Skurnick (blog) Avon A (HarperCollins), 2009 (paperback original) (ISBN 0061756350 / 9780061756351) Nonfiction/books and reading; 448 pages Opening Lines: “I can’t remember the book that made me into a reader. (God knows this would be a better story if I could!) All I can remember is that first I wasn’t a reader and then, suddenly, I was.” Book description: Remember that […]
Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog John Grogan (blog) Harper, 2008 (paperback) (ISBN 0060817089 / 9780060817084) Memoir, 320 pages First sentence: In the summer of 1967, when I was ten years old, my father gave in to my persistent pleas and took me to get my own dog. (from the Preface) Book description: John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a […]
…or, The (Half)Year in Books I “borrowed” this idea from Nymeth‘s Sunday Salon post last week, but as it happens, it was also June 29th’s Musing Mondays question: Now that we’ve come to the middle of the year, what do you think of your 2009 reading so far? Read anything interesting that you’d like to share? Any outstanding favorites? Considering my pathetic total of 35 books read and reviewed in 2008, the fact that I’m […]
Escape Carolyn Jessop (with Laura Palmer) Broadway Books, 2008 (ISBN 0767927575 / 9780767927574) Nonfiction/memoir, 448 pages First sentence: “Escape. The moment had come.” Random clip (page 91): “After several terrible years with Faunita, Audrey said, Merril was forced to marry Ruth. He resisted this marriage as well, until he was reprimanded by the prophet and forced to wed.” Book description: When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with […]
I received this book for review through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program. Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl Susan Campbell Beacon Press, 2009 (hardcover) (ISBN 0807010669 / 9780807010662) Memoir, 215 pages First sentence: “The devil is in an air bubble floating beneath my baptismal robe.” Random clip (page 149): “Though Roman Catholic, Flannery O’Connor was Christ-haunted. No matter how far she traveled or what she wrote, Christ was floating right by […]
Thanks to Jessica Chun at Gotham Books/Penguin Group for offering a review copy of this book! The book is currently available in bookstores and online. Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family Amy Tiemann, Ph.D. Gotham Books, 2009 (ISBN 1592404553 / 9781592404551) Nonfiction, 256 pages From the Introduction: What is Mojo? Mommy Mojo is the feeling you get when you are at the top of your game, juggling the many facets of your […]
The publisher provided this book as a pre-publication ARC for review purposes. It’s available in bookstores as of May 5, 2008. Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of GraceAyelet WaldmanBroadway Books/Doubleday, 2009 (hardcover) (ISBN 0385527934 / 9780385527934)Nonfiction (memoir/essays), 224 pages First sentence (from the Introduction): The morning after my wedding, my husband, Michael, and I were lying on a vast expanse of white linen in the bridal suite of […]
Thanks to Nicole Bruce at The Book Report Network for offering a copy of this book for review! The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, A Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them Amy Dickinson Hyperion, 2009 (hardcover) (ISBN 1401322859 / 9781401322854) Memoir, 240 pages First sentence: One December day in the mid-1980’s, I looked out the front window of my mother’s house and watched my soon-to-be husband walking up the road. Book description: Millions […]
Thanks to Jessica Lee at Penguin Group USA for making this book available for review! What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child – and All the Best Times to Read Them Pam Allyn Avery Books, 2009 (paperback) (ISBN 1583333347 / 9781583333341) Nonfiction (education/reading), 336 pages One of my favorite parts of the early years of parenting was reading aloud with my son. I believe that you can’t start this […]
