Tag: reviews

(Audio)Book Talk: COLUMBINE, by Dave Cullen
November 12, 2013 reading

(Audio)Book Talk: COLUMBINE, by Dave Cullen

Columbine Dave Cullen Audiobook read by Don Leslie Grand Central Publishing (2010), trade paper (ISBN 0446546925 / 9780446546928) Nonfiction (current affairs), 464 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Blackstone Audio (2009), ISBN 9781433290466; Audible ASIN B0025ZAMU6) Reason for reading: Personal Opening lines: “He told them he loved them. Each and every one of them. He spoke without notes but chose his words carefully. Frank DeAngelis waited out the pom-pom routines, the academic awards, and the student-made videos. […]

Book Talk: MENNONITE MEETS MR. RIGHT, by Rhoda Janzen
November 5, 2013 reading

Book Talk: MENNONITE MEETS MR. RIGHT, by Rhoda Janzen

Mennonite Meets Mr. Right: A Memoir of Faith, Hope, and Love Rhoda Janzen Grand Central Publishing (October 2013), trade paper (ISBN 1455502871 / 9781455502875) Nonfiction (memoir/spirituality), 272 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (November 1, 2013). Shelf Awareness provided a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. Rhoda Janzen’s popular 2009 memoir, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, […]

(Audio)Book Talk: FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL, by Sheri Fink
October 29, 2013 reading

(Audio)Book Talk: FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL, by Sheri Fink

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital Sheri Fink (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by Kirsten Potter Crown (September 2013), Hardcover (ISBN 0307718964 / 9780307718969) Nonfiction (social science/health), 576 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Random House Audio (September 2013) ISBN 978-0-8041-2810-0; Audible ASIN B00EF870X8) Reason for reading: Personal interest From the Prologue: “For certain New Orleanians, Memorial Medical Center was the place you went to ride out each hurricane that the loop current […]

Book Talk: SAFFRON CROSS, by J. Dana Trent
October 22, 2013 reading

Book Talk: SAFFRON CROSS, by J. Dana Trent

Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk J. Dana Trent (Facebook) (Twitter) Fresh Air Books (2013), trade paper (ISBN 1935205161 / 9781935205166) Nonfiction: memoir/spirituality, 144 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (October 18, 2013). Shelf Awareness provided a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review and compensation for the review they received and published. She was nurtured by one small-town Baptist […]

Book Talk: THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND, by Jojo Moyes
October 15, 2013 reading

Book Talk: THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND, by Jojo Moyes

The Girl You Left Behind Jojo Moyes (Twitter) (Facebook) Pamela Dornan Books (August 2013), hardcover (ISBN 0670026611 / 9780670026616) Fiction (historical), 384 pages Source: Publisher Reason for reading: She Reads Book Club October selection Opening lines: “I was dreaming of food. Crisp baguettes, the flesh of the bread a virginal white, still steaming from the oven, and ripe cheese, its borders creeping toward the edge of the plate. Grapes and plums, stacked high in bowls, […]

(E)Book Talk: THE SALINGER CONTRACT, by Adam Langer
October 3, 2013 reading

(E)Book Talk: THE SALINGER CONTRACT, by Adam Langer

The Salinger Contract: A Novel Adam Langer Open Road Media E-riginal (2013), e-book original (ISBN 1453297944 / 9781453297940) Fiction, 280 pages Source: E-galley from publisher, via NetGalley Reason for reading: Personal interest Opening lines: “I never believed a book could save your life. It makes sense that Connor Joyce would be the one who changed my mind about that. The story of how one book saved me while another nearly killed Connor began, appropriately enough, […]

(Audio)Book Talk: ELEANOR AND PARK, by Rainbow Rowell
October 1, 2013 reading

(Audio)Book Talk: ELEANOR AND PARK, by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park Rainbow Rowell (Twitter) (Facebook) (Tumblr) (Goodreads) Audiobook read by Rebecca Lowman and Sunil Malhotra St. Martin’s Griffin (February 2013), Hardcover (ISBN 1250012570 / 9781250012579) Fiction (YA), 336 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Random House Audio, February 2013, ISBN 9780385368278; Audible ASIN B00B4WKAQW) Reason for reading: Banned Books Week Opening lines: “XTC was no good for drowning out the morons at the back of the bus. “Park pressed his headphones into his ears. “Tomorrow […]

(Audio)Book Talk: THEN AGAIN, by Diane Keaton
September 24, 2013 reading

(Audio)Book Talk: THEN AGAIN, by Diane Keaton

Then Again Diane Keaton (Twitter) Audiobook read by the author Random House Trade Paperbacks (2012), Paperback (ISBN 0812980956 / 9780812980950) Nonfiction (memoir/autobiography), 336 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Random House Audio (November 2011), ISBN 978-0-307-93402-4; Audible ASIN B0067VIYKE) Reason for reading: Personal (recommended by Beth Kephart) Opening lines: “Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word think. I found think thumbtacked on a bulletin board in […]

Book Talk: I DON’T KNOW, by Leah Hager Cohen
September 19, 2013 reading

Book Talk: I DON’T KNOW, by Leah Hager Cohen

I don’t know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t) Leah Hager Cohen Riverhead (September 2013), Hardcover (ISBN 1594632391 / 9781594632396) Nonfiction, 128 pages Source: ARC from publisher Reason for reading: Personal interest From Chapter One: “I was twenty-two and in my first week of graduate school in journalism. I knew by their appearances that most of my classmates were older, just as I knew from the school’s brochure, which promised to provide […]

(Audio)Book Talk: BEAUTIFUL RUINS, by Jess Walter
September 10, 2013 reading

(Audio)Book Talk: BEAUTIFUL RUINS, by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins: A Novel Jess Walter Audiobook read by Edoardo Ballerini Harper Perennial (March 2013), trade paper (ISBN 9780061928178 / 0061928178) Fiction, 368 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Harper Audio (June 2012), ISBN 9780062201621; Audible ASIN B008ARPV8Q) Reason for reading: Personal Opening lines: “The dying actress arrived in his village the only way one could arrive directly–in a boat that motored into the cove, lurched past the rock jetty, and bumped against the end of the […]

(Audio)Book Talk: KICKING & DREAMING, by Ann and Nancy Wilson
August 29, 2013 reading

(Audio)Book Talk: KICKING & DREAMING, by Ann and Nancy Wilson

Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson, with Charles R. Cross (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson It Books (September 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0062101676 / 9780062101679) Nonfiction: Autobiography/music/popular culture, 288 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Harper Audio, unabridged. ISBN 9780062243706; Audible ASIN B009CMO4ZY) Reason for reading: Personal (recommended by Jodi at I Will Dare) Opening lines (from the Prologue): “I never thought […]

Book Talk: HANDLING THE TRUTH, by Beth Kephart
August 15, 2013 reading

Book Talk: HANDLING THE TRUTH, by Beth Kephart

Disclosure (non-standard): I received a personally-inscribed galley of Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir from the author, Beth Kephart, in an expression of the friendship that has grown out of reading, writing, and Facebook. What follows is not a “review” of the book, but it is my honest response to it. Beth Kephart is one of a small number of authors who has made me reconsider whether I might not be too old […]