New Life, No Instructions: A Memoir Gail Caldwell (Facebook) Random House (April 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 1400069548 / 9781400069545) Nonfiction/memoir, 176 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (April 15, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. Gail Caldwell’s 2010 memoir, Let’s Take the Long Way Home, explored the losses that defined her fifth decade: her parents, her best friend […]

Exodus: A Memoir Deborah Feldman Blue Rider Press (2014), Hardcover (March 25, 2014), ISBN 0399162771 / 9780399162770 Memoir, 304 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (4/8/2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. In her 2012 memoir, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, Deborah Feldman chronicled her upbringing in the […]

The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT Debbie Stier (Twitter) (Facebook) Harmony (February 25, 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 0307956679 / 9780307956675) Nonfiction: memoir/self-help/education, 304 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (March 4, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. The Perfect Score Project chronicles Debbie Stier’s year of exploring […]

The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway Doug Most (Facebook) (Twitter) St. Martin’s Press (February 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 0312591322 / 9780312591328) Nonfiction: history, 416 pages A version of this post was previously published as a Starred Review in Shelf Awareness for Readers (February 18, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. As […]

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, […]

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 […]

Where the Peacocks Sing: A Palace, a Prince, and the Search for Home Alison Singh Gee (Facebook) St. Martin’s Press (February 2013), hardcover (ISBN 0312378785 / 9780312378783) Memoir, 288 page A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (February 26, 2013). Shelf Awareness provided a galley for review purposes and payment for the review. Opening lines: “I never knew peacocks could fly. “I never knew they could do much of […]