- BECOMING. By Michelle Obama (4/16/20) Autobiography
I was excited that Michelle was performing (industry term) her own book. That made it come to life for me. In this book we see her as a child living with her family in their predominantly black middle class neighborhood in Chicago. Her father was working class, her mother educated and both were strong supporters of the value of education in order to have a good life and follow your dreams. Michelle and her brother followed their advise and the rest is history.Her life is not political until she meets Barack Obama, who is driven to follow in that direction. She is supportive but wants none of that for herself, which she follows to this day.
Michelle describes and explains the journey her life took with it’s challenges without complaint. This is an interesting autobiography and she makes it a fun read!
5 Stars
2. HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D Vance (4/24/20) Autobiography
After the 2016 Election I was discussing with friends why so many poor people in rural America voted for President Trump, which in my opinion was voting against their own well being. The Democrats had so may more programs in their platform that could help their situation. I was steered to this book, which portrays, through the author’s own experience, the economic decline of white working-class Americans in a poor Rust Belt town and his family’s struggle to escape poverty, abuse, alcoholism, and it’s demons.
This did not completely answer all of my questions, but it brought to life the severe conditions that still exist in Appalachia and the South. I realized this is just one side of a journey to understand why we have systemic poverty in the richest country in the world. If you haven’t read this I do recommend it.
5 Stars
4. EDUCATED by Tara Westover (4/25/20) Autobiography
Tara wrote a memoir of how she was raised in rural Idaho. Her survivalist father who salvaged scrap metal, and her mother who was an unlicensed midwife, isolated the family from the mainstream of society due to paranoid fears about government and education interfering with their fundamentalist Mormon beliefs. This is a journey of discovery for Tara as she began to doubt her father and his beliefs especially about education. She and one brother self-educated, she saved the money she earned salvaging metal for her father, applied and was admitted to Brigham Young University. Her struggles to accept knowledge foreign to her, find the capacity to understand the tools of learning, and accepting and questioning her father’s tenants of their faith ware difficult for her.
The biggest challenge, I believe, was her questioning of what she realized were abuses- physical, emotional, and sexual and overcoming the shame for having believed that it was normal. With the many financial and emotional issues we watch as she maneuvers through this incredible journey. I love challenging journey-type books, especially non-fiction, and as frustrating as it was to imagine, it gives us hope.
5 Stars
33. UNTAIMED by Glennon Doyle (7/3/20) Autobiography
A memoir by the author of “Love Warrior”, Doyle, an activist, speaker, and author explores the peace and joy we can receive when we stop trying to meet others’ expectations and to start trusting “the voice within us”. She attempts to liberate women from their traditional roles we have accepted, such as, good daughters, mothers, partners, and friends, which she feels can lead us to making others flourish at our expense.
This is a strong look at women’s roles, how they bury our freedom to pursue our dreams, and how we can learn to trust our instincts to follow our inner selves. This is well written, has instances most women can relate to, and gives us permission to rid ourselves of the guilt in putting one’s self first.
4 Stars
43. TALKING AS FAST AS I CAN by Lauren Graham (7/26/20) Autobiography
Read by the author, the quick talking Lorelei Gilmore of the fabulous “Gilmore Girls” series, we hear the story of her journey into acting success. With her bubbling personality, sharp humor, and raw honesty we get to witness her insecurities as she breaks into “the luck” of being chosen for a major series and how she learned through the help of co-stars and others to find her niche in Gilmore Girls and later in her second series, Parenthood.
I read this book because I loved both of her series mainly because of her talent of bringing energy and quick witted humor to her roles. By listening to her read the audiobook I found her to be honest and genuine and wish she were in more roles in the future.
5 Stars
44. FAST GIRL by Suzy Favor Hamilton and Sarah Tomlinson (7/28/20) Autobiography
Suzy Hamilton was an Olympic runner, perfectionist extraordinaire, who after losing badly in her third Olympic run, due largely to emotional problems, turned her anxiety into an escape into a wild and risky life. Leaving her supportive husband and daughter behind, she lead a life she found glamorous and exciting.
This is an amazing story, of driving impulses, the agony of defeat, the spiraling out of control, and self realization. The details are explicit into a world rarely imagined.
4 Stars
46. RUTH BADER GINSBURG by Jane Sherron de Hart (7/31/20) Biography
We follow the life of Ginsburg from childhood, through education, including her inability to find a job after being on top of her class, mainly because of gender and motherhood. Her husband Marty, her biggest supporter and great love, paved a way to help her accomplish her goals.
Ginsburg’s biography goes deeply into how this remarkable woman became who she is today. Although the legalese at time challenged my understanding of law, we can hear in detail her most important cases and how she went about making them. Ruth’s strengths were how she attempted to break through barriers never yet challenged.
Health issues, mostly cancer, affected her mother, Marty, and herself (for 20 years) and it was remarkable to see how her love for the law helped her to concentrate on her work rather than her health.
This audiobook was 25 hours long and at times arduous trying to understand the complexity in the oral arguments and decisions, but it was worth it to see her brilliant mind and endless commitment to her work and family.
5 Stars
62. TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH, by Mary Trump (9/7/20) Biography
The subtitle tells it all: “How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man”. The author, a clinical psychologist, is Trump’s niece who in this tell all book singles out Trump’s parents as major factors in the dysfunction and mental psychoses within the family. It is a raw picture of pitting one sibling against another in order to succeed in the eyes of Fred, Sr. We venture through the family history of each sibling and learn how the family dynamics contributed to their defects.
We have seen a million stories about Trump and his shortcomings, his cruel and sometimes evil ways, including his penchant to lie and cheat, and it is easy to see how he developed into the person he is today.
5 Stars
86. A VERY STABLE GENIUS By Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig (11/15/20) Biography
” A Very Stable Genius” are words President Trump used to describe himself when the press was reporting that among other things White House staffers were becoming more and more concerned about Trump’s frantic behavior and uncontrolled outbursts. Worries about his stability had become more and more common as the Special Counsel Robert Mueller was investigating Russian interference into the 2016 election amid allegations of obstruction of justice and as Trump’s re-election campaign was nearing.
The Washington Post’s White House Bureau Chief Phillip Rucker, and national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig, both Pulitzer Prize winners and Washington insiders with a plethora of sources, portray a narrative of the Trump Administration as they break all sense of traditions to accomplish a unique version of Trump’s America with shocking insights into how to accomplish their goals and it’s implications.
The rumors of a haphazard administration have been flowing from the beginning of Trump’s presidency but what makes this book stand out are the scores of interviews with the most senior members of the administration and the first-hand witnesses that expose how many are driven by self-preservation and self-aggrandizement to enable Trump’s survival. Many have started to divulge the truth for the benefit of history as Trump struggles to survive.
5 Stars
87. RAGE by Bob Woodward (11/18/20) Biography
Bob Woodward, famous for his reporting with Carl Bernstein during the break-in and burglary of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex, leading to the fall of the Nixon presidency and gaining a Pulitzer Prize, has written his second book about Donald Trump. This is the seventh President he has written about.
Woodward was granted, by Trump, personal interviews, eighteen in all, seventeen taped and one by notes, making his words accurate and uncompromising. It gave him the unique perspective of having first-hand access. What also makes this book unique is that Woodward was able to quote not only his questions but also Trump’s answers. The freewheeling nature of Trumps answers gives us all entry into Trump’s motives, rationale, and generalizations and warped conclusions. Also, as false conclusions or inaccurate statements were made by Trump, Woodward would set the record straight so the reader would see the error in his statements as they appeared.
The best parts of the book were Trump’s version of his relationship Kim Jong Un, the Korean leader, complete with Woodward’s access to twenty-five personal letters between Kim and Trump, and his admission that he was warned that Covid-19 would be a worldwide pandemic and the biggest national security threat to his presidency in January, 2020. I especially appreciated that Woodward never held back from asking difficult questions, sometimes while explaining to Trump how his actions or inactions could work against him, historically and politically. And with Trump telling the author, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get to do another book. You’ll find out I was right.”
5 Stars
93. A PROMISED LAND by Barack Obama (12/8/20) Autobiography
I am glad I did the audiobook of this biography because it was in the former president’s voice. I understand the hardback is as heavy as a big Bible. And this is just the first volume of his memoirs! Obama, who is known for his analytical nature does not disappoint in this book where we begin in his youth, unusual with his bi-racial parents, who both travel to their own drummers, leaving Barack to find his own way in searching for his own identity. He goes into detail of finding his way into education and then to following a political path.
Obama is more than honest about his flaws and weaknesses and how he mastered them to get the job done while helping others. Without bragging, he knows that without mentors and others who took an interest in him, his life could have gone another way. Becoming a community organizer in Chicago tapped his desire to make things better for more and got him interested in a political path much to Michelle’s initial disdain.
With great detail we follow him on the political journey, complete with campaign strategy, mistakes, blunders in Illinois and on to Washington. We learn many details, sometimes more than I needed, but great for political junkies, on how messy, tiring, and demoralizing a campaign can be. Mostly we learn how difficult it is on family life and physical stamina, but also how rewarding it can be to meet and hear stories from thousands of people all over America.
What I appreciated was his thought process and analysis that brought him to the conclusions he made. He was adept in how, with the help of experts, analysts, and his cabinet, he would come to a conclusion that could have gone either way, such as the decision to go after Bin Laden, and how to make it happen. He has a brilliant mind, but continues to question his decisions and tries to answer the unanswerable: Could I have done this better? A lot of things take guts and courage but he seems always aware of the consequences and tries to do the best, most ethical thing. I did learn many new things about a president I had admired but now, admire more.
5 Stars
95. MELANIA AND ME by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (12/17/2020) Biography
I personally know little of the First Lady other than what I hear on the news and lots of speculation about what she is really like, does she really love the President, or is she just in it for the money. Along comes a tell-all book from a former close friend and I decided to take a look-see, fully knowing many will try to cash-in with these exposes and we may have to take some of it or most of it with a grain of salt.
Wolkoff was a former director of special events at Vogue and produced nine Met Galas so she definitely met the criteria of traveling in the “right” social circles of New York as do the Trumps. Wolkoff met Melania in 2003 where she had a front row seat to see the transformation of Melania from girlfriend of Donald Trump to wife, mother and First Lady. She tells of their friendship filled with lunches, personal texts, black-tie dinners which culminated as she was recruited to help produce the 58th Presidential Inauguration and became Melanie’s most trusted advisor. She goes into great detail, for me too much detail, of the numerous details that were necessary to pull off the event. She also related how clueless most of the Trump team was about these details and how great their expectations were making her job a nightmare. Because the funding for the event was not well managed (or mismanaged) she was assured she should run many of the expenses through her company in order to get things done in a timely way and was assured there would be no problems with reimbursements. When the inauguration finance irregularities became known she became a scapegoat for the high extravagant amounts and was blindsided when Melania, rather than defending the expenses allotted to her friend and confident, stood by Trump and company. The betrayal destroyed their relationship and Wolkoff’s good name. The intimate friendship, loyalty, and protection she had given Melania became a heartbreaker for Wolcoff.
The book is not a vicious contempt for Melania, but more of a tragic disappointment and an awakening of what true friendship means in a volatile political setting. It shows lots of back room reactions Melania had to events such as her relationship with Ivanka and other family members, whether she really wanted to be First Lady, and Melania’s reactions to Stormy Daniels, the immigration separations, and how she really felt about her husband’s decisions. If you are in to politics, behind the scene, you will enjoy this book.
3 Stars
111. GREENLIGHTS by Matthew McConaughey (1/30) Autobiography
The unique part of reading audiobooks narrated by the author when the author is a well-known actor, celebrity, or politician is that it will capture the true nature of the person and his/her authenticity. Most of us are aware of the rolls McConaughey has played in the movies complete with his rogue humor and Southern charm. If the book is true to his nature, and I think it is, you will see him in all his glory and then some.
McConaughey follows his greenlights, sometimes makes mistakes with yellow or red lights, but finds these greenlights have guided his pathway to his success. The biography, sometimes crude, sometimes playful, sometimes insightful, give us a reason to believe he is intelligent and thoughtful about his life and is in charge of his own journey.
I was quite honestly impressed with McConaughey. He is deeper than I realized while never losing his playful sense of humor as he engagingly shows us his easy-breezy style of luck, timing, and his work ethic.
4 Stars
(116) Eleanor by David Michaelis (2/18/21) Biography
There have been many biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and this is one the author spent a decade researching. In this book, which covers her from birth to death gives us a complete picture, without prejudice, of her flaws and triumphs and intimacies gathered from letter writing and journals, which flourished as communication in those days.
The book is not unkind to her or generous. We are allowed to see it all without conclusions. We see her shy, insecure childhood that no amount of money and privilege could cure, and how the lack of family intimacies that serve to nurture young children were mostly absent from her life. Eleanor was sent to many relatives for close keeping as her parents went off to pursue their interests. Her mother, highly critical her appearance, and her father, who loved her as she did him, was still unreliable due to his alcoholism.
It is astounding from that background that she came to marry FDR, a handsome bachelor distant cousin, became First Lady, and when infidelity entered their marriage she was still able to influence his politics, especially the many humanitarian causes. During the Depression she traveled across the country bring the stories of poverty and hardship back to her husband.
During WWII she energetically worked visiting the troops and speaking to each wounded soldier. This political partnership was extremely helpful to Franklin, a paraplegic due to polio. She was well-loved by the public and became admired around the world in a world mostly run by men.
5 Stars
133. TRIUMPH by Carolyn Jessop (4/15/21) Biography
In her first book, Escape, Carolyn Jessop tells of her escape along with her eight children from the FLDS, a fundamentalist polygamist sect of the Mormon Church, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In this book she chronicles her struggles following her freedom and finding a way to provide for her children’s basic needs while trying to find a way to earn a living. With help from the community and the state she used her experiences of being brought up in the extremist sect, and being brain washed into believing her life was the property of her husband and church which gave her the courage to write her book ESCAPE. When Carolyn went to community college her eyes were opened to a different way of life and thinking. Slowly she realized that the abuse committed toward the women and children, the attitudes against public education and the marriages of underage girls to men twice or three-times their age was wrong and an act of enslavement. When the Yearning for Zion 1700-acre compound near Eldorado, Texas was raided in 2008 after a call for help from a young girl, Carolyn was called to assist the authorities in helping to process the children taken from the compound. She had become well known after her first book had become a best-seller and from her TV interviews. But the story only starts here as the FLDS used all it’s power to accuse the government of denying their religious freedom. Court cases ensued and it was quite a journey for the victims, the state and with public opinion.
Although I did not read ESCAPE, Jessop refers back to her story in a way that the reader can fill in the blanks and go on to see the courage and fortitude she possesses in uncovering the truth about her former religion. Her achievements are many and she is inspiring in her achievements.
5 Stars
156. CRYING IN H MART by Michelle Zauner (6/16/21) Autobiography
The Author, a Korean-American singer/songwriter has written a powerful memoir about growing up Korean-American, the loss of her mother and the grief she experienced, and how she fought to find her own identity. H Mart is a Korean store in New York which triggers how her native food brings back rich, painful, and enduring memories of her childhood, along with all the challenges of living in a mostly white community in Eugene, Oregon.
Zauner’s complex relationship with her mother is the focal point of this book sharing her hurt when she was criticized, and the high expectations that Michelle felt she could never be satisfied. To forge her own identify, Michelle went to college in the East Coast, started singing with a band and began her music career. Over the years things improved between them, especially at her grandmother’s where she and her mother would connect over delicious Korean food. When her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer Michelle realizes what a force her mother had been to her and her success and how her mother was her strongest connection to her Korean identity.
Zauner honestly and openly shares the raw grief she experiences with the death of her mother and what a powerful force the mother-daughter bond can be.
5 Stars
162. THE HUNTRESS by Alice Arlen and Michael J. Arlen (6/27/21) Biography
Not to be confused with an historical novel with the same title by Kate Quinn, (#100 on my Book List), this book is a biography of a fascinating and adventurous women named Alicia Patterson. Although the daughter of Joseph Patterson, founder and editor of the New York Daily News, her father gave little thought of helping his daughter in her quest in journalism and twice insisted she marry men of his choosing. Their complicated relationship was domineering at times and advantageous at others, as when he encouraged her to do the difficult training required for an aviation transport license and she became the tenth woman in that field. His social stature got her invitations to meet English royalty, Mussolini, and Stalin and George Guggenheim, who became her third husband. At the age of thirty-four she became one of the youngest and most successful newspaper publishers in America when she published Newsday, surprising her father.
This book not only chronicles Alicia’s interesting life, but shows the advantages privilege had in the world of the wealthy and powerful.
4 Star
171. THE SOUL OF A WOMAN by Isabel Allende (7/22/21) Autobiography
Born in Peru, raised in Chili, Isabel Allende thinks she became a feminist when she was in kindergarten. She watched her mother struggle to raise three children, after being abandoned by her husband. The determined and defiant Isabel was determined to fight for a life that eluded her mother. In the 1960’s she banded with other female journalists to join in the feminist movement to continue to awaken women to their own possibilities- “..to be safe, to be valued, to live in peace, to have their own resources, to be connected, to have control over their bodies and lives, and above all, to be loved.” With three marriages of her own and relationships, and having witnessed the movement over time she admits there is still much work to be done. Allende speaks with the same passion that comes through in her many books.
4 Stars
196. I AM MALALA by Malala Yousafzai (9/28/21) Autobiography
Malala Yousafzai is the youngest recipient of the Noble Peace Prize. She fought for girls getting an education in a country that reserved that right only for boys. Her father had a co-ed school but when the Taliban took control of Swat Valley, Pakistan, Malala stood up to them and refused to be silenced as she fought for the right to be educated. In retaliation the Taliban shot her when she was 15 while riding home from school in a bus. She wasn’t expected to survive but did and continued her quest to speak out on a worldwide scale all the way to the United Nations at just 16 years old. This book is Malala’s memoir of the courage and determination to inspire change under the most unlikely odds. Her message continues today.
5 Stars
205. IN HOFFA’S SHADOW by Jack Goldsmith (10/14/21) Autobiography
Jack was 12-years-old when his mother married her third husband, Charles (Chuckie) O’Brien, a friend and follower to Jimmy Hoffa, Teamster’s Union President, known for his gangster style of leadership. Jack had finally found a father figure in Chuckie, who showered him with attention and love, as Jack proudly changed his name to “O’Brien. Chuckie’s stories were filled with tails of his life with Jimmy Hoffa and who sounded like a grandfather figure to young Jack. When Jack was in college he began to realize that his stepfather, Chuckie had possible Mafia ties which coup undermine his career path to law school and beyond. And Jack did go to the top in law and in the Justice Department. All by denouncing his stepfather. This book tells Jack’s tough, true story. An interesting read.
4 Stars
231. BRAT by Andrew McCarthy (1/3/22) Autobiography
As a card carrying member of the Brat Pack, which also included Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe, McCarthy recalls how he got into show business and his good luck being chosen for some iconic 80’s flicks such as St. Elmo’s Fire, and Pretty in Pink. His honesty reveals his innocence, shyness, awkwardness, conflicted ambition, and laid-back laziness about his career path which may have helped him stick to the authenticity of his true self, rather than his talent. I thought he did a good job with this biography of some of his early interesting moments in time.
5 Stars
243. THE MASTER by Christopher Clarey (2/14/22) Biography
I am a big tennis fan. I played tennis for close to 50 years until my wrist arthritis kicked in and I lost grip of the racket way too often. I sadly hung up my racket, joined the Y for water aerobics, and live vicariously by watching tennis on TV. In my humble opinion Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time, even though his total grand-slam wins has been beat by Rafael Nadal recently and soon may be beat by Novak Djokovic. I am loyal to Roger’s game because he made it look easy-the ballet of tennis. He also seems to be able to control himself, is a big family man (2 sets of natural twins!) and has brought tennis into the main stream of sports like none other. This biography of Roger Federer was written by a New York Times correspondent who had unusual access to Roger and others as he was formerly a player and really understands the game. In professional tennis everyone plays well. But to be the greatest you have to pass so many other challenges. Federer had lots to overcome. Like most young players he had to overcome temperamental outbreaks, lack of self-belief, and training deficits when things were not going well, He always possessed natural ability and grit. He had to lose a lot of games, overcome many crushing defeats and harness his will to become as great as he is for as long as he has been on top of tennis.
The author, Christopher Clarey, follows Roger’s career and his personal life, focusing on all the pivotal people, places and moments in Roger’s long and brilliant career.
5 Stars
273. THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS by Marina Keegan (6/1/22) Autobiography
Marina Keegan graduated magna cum laude from Yale class of 2012. Five days later she died in a car accident. This book is a collection of her essays and stories. Here is an excerpt.
“We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say it’s what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place.”
…”This scares me. More than finding the right job or city or spouse-I’m scared of losing this web we’re in. This elusive, indefinable, opposite of lonleiness. This feeling I feel right now.”
This is an amazing loss of an amazing young woman.
5 Stars
274. THE TENDER BAR by J.R. Moehringer (6/4/22) Autobiography
J.R., brought up by his single mother, was in search for a father he never knew, who vanished before he was born, but had a voice on the radio. He was a New York City disc jockey. Although he craved a father, by the age of eight he looked to his Uncle Charlie’s bar around the corner where he drank in the excitement of the men and their stories from all walks of life. The men took J.R. under wing and supplied him with many versions of their philosophies of how to handle life and become a man. J.R. found a home in this rugged atmosphere of loving yet tainted souls and as he grew he became seduced to the jovial camaraderie. The book continues as he leaves home for college, gets a great job, but is always lured back to his sanctuary-the bar. Wonderful writing.
5 Stars
275. UNTHINKABLE by Jamie Raskin (6/7/22) Autobiography
“Unthinkable-Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy” is a powerful book as Congressman Jamie Raskin recounts the 45 days in the beginning of 2021 that forever changed his life. First, on January 31, 2020 he lost his brilliant, intelligent son to suicide, a loss he felt he could not overcome. Seven days later on January 6th he came back to the Capitol to assist in the certification of the 2020 election results when the violent insurrection of the Capitol occurred, traumatizing the nation and those guarding the Capitol, where more than 140 died or were wounded. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, empathized with his sorrow but urged Raskin, a constitutional law professor, to lead the impeachment effort against President Trump for inciting the riot on January 6th. Congressman Raskin examines his personal sorrow in the aftermath of one of the darkest days in the history of this nation, and how he was inspired by his son Tommy’s convictions which helped him forge ahead amidst his sorrow. This poignant memoir is the story of Ruskin’s greatest time of sadness for him personally and professionally and how working to save the democracy saved him in this time of dispair.
A beautiful work about a tragic time in history.
5 Stars
277. ENOUGH ALREADY by Valerie Bertinelli (6/13/22) Autobiography
I have to admit I haven’t been a big fan of Valerie, in fact, I don’t think I ever watched an episode of “One Day At A Time”, since I am not a soap opera fan, so I didn’t see her as a child star, and as she grew up into a beautiful young lady I would see her on TV sunny and bright but never saw the talent. She had a great big smile, was married to Van Halen and was on countless magazine covers, but I really didn’t know much about her. Just like so many celebrities Valerie admits her persona and self-worth was based on her appearance. They want you when your are young and beautiful and not so much as you get older, fatter, balder, and it is hard to be compared to your youthful self. In this book Valerie gets real and reflects on her life at sixty. She has gone through a journey in trying to come to terms of how to love and accept yourself. Sometimes funny, sometimes raw, sad and frank, Valerie opens up about her life, and in the audiobook, which she narrates, it feels and sounds brave and true.
4 Stars
281. OUT OF THE CORNER by Jennifer Grey (6/29/22) Autobiography
Daughter of Joel Grey, the menacing master of ceremonies in “Cabaret”, Jennifer at age six would watch her father transform himself in his dressing room until this mask would blot out any trace of her dad as she knew him. This impression of changing oneself made a lasting impression on what she would become after her success in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Dirty Dancing” wore off and her looks were “too Jewish” by Hollywood standards. She wasn’t getting work and went for the nose Job which for a while was a big success, until due to a medical problem she had to have another surgery and this time the results were botched. Depressed, alone and rejected she went downhill with men, and substance abuse. She went through a long period of self-reflection, got clean, got married, had a daughter at 41, and won the trophy of “Dancing With The Stars” despite rupturing a lumbar disc near the end. Her journey is amazing, showing how one gets sucked into not feeling good enough about themselves that they make bad decisions. It is a great story.
5 Stars
282. PRINCE CHARLES BY SALLY BEDELL SMITH (6/25/22) Biography
Now King Charles III, Prince Charles was the oldest heir to the throne in more than three hundred years. This biography is rich with detail after four years of research, interviews with palace officials, former girlfriends, spiritual gurus, and brings to life more closely, the real man filled with ambition, insecurities, and his search for spiritual meaning. We see a more complicated and contemplative man who may have grown into his own just in time for the throne.
5 Stars
286. BACK TO THE PRAIRIE by Melissa Gilbert (7/2/22) Autobiography
Childhood star of “Little House on the Prairie”, Melissa Gilbert was a part of the beloved series about the pioneer days of America. We can all see the little girl with the braids and space between her front teeth running through the prairie fields of rural America and learning how to become a good person from her kind and gentle parents. Melissa kind of disappeared from my radar as she grew older but popped up every now and then in Hollywood and in politics.
Her new husband introduced her to rural Michigan, reminding Melissa of the beauty of a rural lifestyle. When work took them to New York, they found a rustic cottage in the Catskill Mountains. Soon the pandemic hit New York hard and they retreated to their cottage which needed more than just a facelift. The newlyweds threw themselves into the project of transforming the cottage into a home and Melissa began to find nature and renew her love for a rural lifestyle. Humorous and heartwarming, this is an enjoyable read.
4 Stars
294. ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW by Nicole Chung (7/21/22) Autobiography
Nicole was born prematurely to a Korean-American family in Seattle and given up for adoption and at two months old adopted by a white Catholic family. Although showered with affection, Nicole, at a certain age, started questioning her heritage and adoption details, which her parents purposefully kept from her, worried that they would want her back. This book is an adoption story, very well written and open about how racism, feelings of not belonging, and her white parent’s lack of true understanding about growing up in a white community can be a struggle as she attempts to question her identity. As she enters college and adulthood she expands her efforts to undercover her roots and finds an older sister, who, when her parents came home from the hospital without a baby was told the baby had died. The sisters shared experiences of their lives and Nichole found her sister Cindy did not have an ideal childhood, with an unstable and unaffectionate mother, who was constantly working.
There is much more to this story as she learns about and meets her birth parents. And as she marries and has children how she tries to bring Korean identity and influences into their lives.
5 Stars
296. TASTES LIKE WAR by Grace M. Cho (7/28/22) Autobiography
Grace M. Cho was born to an American merchant marine and a Korean bar hostess he met abroad. Her father thought he was rescuing Koonja from poverty and sex-jobs with American GI’s, only to find the zenophobic small town in Washington he brought her to would look down on Koonja and bullied. At age 15, Grace experienced her mother’s first signs of schizophrenia, possibly a result of being traumatized by the war, colonialism, and racism. This book is raw with details including sexual violence, self-harm, anti-gay bias, and domestic violence and writing and her analysis must have been instrumental in helping her come to terms with such a dynamic and problematic life.
4 Stars
309. NEVER SIMPLE by Liz Scheier (8/20/22) Autobiography
Liz Scheier’s mother Judith was always different. Sometimes she was a joyful charmer, sometimes a witty storyteller, sometimes an abusive liar. Scheier started to realize that her mother had mental illness and when she was eighteen her mother dropped a bombshell on her, no, actually two. First, she said she had been married for most of Liz’s life, to someone Liz had never heard of, and, that the man she had told Liz was her father was fictional, all made up. In fact most of their lives had been supported by her mother’s lies. Twenty years later Liz receives a call from Adult Protective Services that her mother has stopped paying her rent and has refused all offers of assistance. This is a complicated story of learning to survive a parent she fears as much as loves and is as self-destructive as she is adoring.
4 Stars
314. RITA MORENO by Rita Moreno (9/10/22) Autobiography
Rita and her mother took a harrowing journey to seek a new life in America but landed in the barrios of the Bronx, barely making the basic necessities of life. Wanting her daughter to have chances in show business she worked to give little Rosita singing and dancing lessons and she loved performance from the beginning. She made her Broadway debut at age thirteen and moved to Hollywood a few years later where Louis B. Mayer thought she was like a Spanish Elizabeth Taylor. She was entering the Golden age of Hollywood at MGM and worked with the likes of Gary Cooper and Yul Brynner (“The King and I”), Gene Kelly (“Singin’ in the Rain”), and her greatest triumph in “West Side Story”. Rita opens up about men in her life-Elvis, Howard Hughes, and the love of her life, Marlon Brando who was in and out and of her life. She attempted suicide when he married another. She talks a lot about the glamour of Hollywood and the limelight and of the racial and sexual barriers she had to overcome. She married later in life and had a daughter, something she had longed for. This is a good book and she bares her soul.
4 Stars
315. OVERNIGHT CODE by Paige Bowers and David R. Montague (9/11/22) Biography
“The inspiring story of a groundbreaking African American engineer who created the first computer-designed ship for the U.S. Navy.” Now THAT got my attention! Raye Montague grew up in segregated Little Rock and what she couldn’t learn in school she taught herself. During the Cold War few women were engineers but she had the tenacity to treat roadblocks as hurdles to overcome. Facing racism and sexism she aspired to do her best and be her best. That mindset helped her draft a Naval ship using a computer program that needed to be debugged. On top of that she was a single mom who gave her son the wisdom she had accumulated throughout her years of beating the obstacles. Amazing woman, amazing life.
5 Stars
316. ONE MAN AGAINST THE WORLD: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon by Tim Weiner (9/15/22) Biography
I thought all I needed to know about Richard Nixon was already out there-Watergate, the Plumbers, the Tapes, but wait, holy cow, a lot more has been declassified in the last few years, especially about the war in Vietnam, and it is horrible. An example: Between March of 1969 and August of 1973 (4 1/2 years), 2,756,727 TONS (yes, tons) of bombs were dropped on Cambodia. This is five times greater than we knew. This exceeded ALL the Allied bombing during World War II, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destruction that was unleashed on Cambodia, killing more than 150,000, was unknown for three decades due to Nixon’s falsification of the bombing records.
This is a devastating account of a tortured man who led the country largely according to a deep seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and congress, but the American population at large who were hell-bent to protest this war at every opportunity. This is also a riveting portrait of a man who was paranoid of the United States losing a war to a third-world country, and of the crimes he committed trying to win.
5 Stars
KATHY GRIFFIN’S CELEBRITY RUN-INS by Kathy Griffin (9/23/22)
320. Kathy Griffin has moxie up the gu-gu! She loves bumping into celebrities at any chance she can get. With her sense of fun, raw humor, and quick wit she has chosen to alphabetize the group and start dishing the dirt, both good, unusual and humiliating to us all. This is the book of fun when you really want to know what the celebrity is REALLY like. At least her glimpse of it. No holds barred!
4 Stars
331. REVENGE by Tom Bower (10/21/22) Biography
Oh Meghan, oh Harry, are you both as despicable as this author thinks you are-something close to what Britian’s tabloid journals loves to hate? There is so much gossip going around, especially now that they have come to America to build their lives, so how would I be able to separate fact from fiction?
This book makes Meghan out to be a supreme social climber, with a lust for celebrity and wealth, and her chance meeting with Harry to be the answer to all her dreams. She is made out to be a major manipulator, pushing Harry to despise his racial country and the racism in the Royal Family-“The Firm”, and forcing him to seek peace and serenity in LA. I am now watching the series on Netflix, “Harry and Meghan” which gives a documentary feel by using historical film footage and present-day footage to memorialize at least some of what they say to be true. It appears that Harry is no naive royal following in the footsteps of his beautiful wife. He was traumatized at a young age by the violent death of his mother, Princess Diana, and has despised the media frenzy around their lives that actually contributed to her death. With the same tone of love one day and hate the next it is not hard to see the parallels between that time and the present situation his wife and children are enduring. He seems to be in more of a protective mode on their behalf and may have a legitimate concern when the Firm refused to provide security when traveling to Great Britain. Is his anger against the Firm justified? In my opinion, yes, but then I don’t know the truth. I hope this book is wrong about Meghan’s lying and revenge. Whatever is the truth, on the Netflix show they are either supreme actors or their love for each other shines through and makes me hope they both find happiness together. I like fairytale endings. Sappy, I know. This book is well written, but quite slanted in favor of the “born to royal service and duty” kind of thing.
4 Stars
334. BECOMING FDR by Jonathon Darman (11/30/22) Biography
“Becoming FDR: A Personal Crisis That Made a President” shows the transformation of FDR from an able public servant and society figure to a man of Presidential greatness. FDR was stricken with polio and quickly lost use of his legs and became a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair. He rejected sympathy, accepted a positive stance that he could overcome his disease through hard work, extreme pain and that he would eventually regain the use of his legs. This began a seven year journey into many rehability plans including hydro therapy in warm springs, his favorite. His resolve to return to public life was partly from his desire to emanate the greatness of his cousin, Theodore Roosevelt.
FDR went on to become the only president elected to four terms, and the only president confined to a wheelchair. When World War II erupted FDR rose to his greatest hours as he directed our troops into battle in Asia and Europe. These victories secured his position in history and positioned the United States as the leader of the free world.
5 Stars
339. SINATRA by James Kaplan (11/19/22) Biography
Sinatra: The Chairman, is Act II in the career of Frank Sinatra. The first book by Kaplan called “Frank” dealt with the early life of Sinatra and his rise from the Big Band singer and teenage heartthrob to his early solo singing career, and on to great worldwide fame. This new book follows Sinatra from the mid-50’s to his death in 1998.
Kaplan show Frank riding high as an actor after winning an Academy Award for his role in “From Here to Eternity” at a time when rock and roll was floundering his singing career. As Sinatra’s acting career expanded to musicals where he had to keep up with tap dancing alongside Gene Kelly and others, he gained respect with the Hollywood set and movie studios. In between movies he took his singing to Las Vegas and other nightclub venues, developed the “Rat Pack” with friends Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and his Kennedy connection, Peter Lawford.
As a ladies man he had few equals. He was addicted to beautiful women and thought nothing of one-night-stands or extra-marital affairs. The book strongly suggests that the love of his life was Ava Gardner, who he never married, and goes into his other marriages after his divorce from Nancy, especially his strange relationship to the elfish and much younger Mia Farrow.
Sinatra also enjoyed the power of the mafia and as his own popularity grew so did his propensity to use the strong-armed, take no prisoners tactics of his mafia friends. Loyalty to him was paramount and one of his biggest disappointments was that after Sinatra’s help getting JFK elected, he was excluded from the White House circle due to his mafia connections and the fact that Robert Kennedy made going after organized crime a top priority. As you know both brothers were assassinated and there is still a mystery as to any mafia involvement.
All in all, the portrait of Sinatra is complex. He had great talent for music and knowing and developing his own style, had occasional brilliance in the movies, he developed immense power within the entertainment industry, but he was mostly miserable with love because of disrespect for women, and his often out-of-control and violent behavior and angry rudeness. This book lays out the good and the bad mixed in with his great generosity and empathy at times. It was a picture of Frank that I had heard about and it seemed to confirm that he was a man who was never satisfied nor truly happy.
5 Stars
350. BROTHERS AND WIVES by Christopher Anderson (12/25/22) Biography
“Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan”, is a sequel to “Diana’s Boys”, and the author’s 36th book about the British Royal Family, where he brings us up to date on the sons of Diana and Charles. We learn of their difficulties after their mother’s tragic death and how it affected her sons who the author believes suffered from PTSD, but never received therapy. While growing up and wanting to live a “normal” life the boys turned to hard-partying, alcohol, drugs, and made many mistakes. Continuing in the steps of their mother, both boys were relentlessly pursued by the tabloid press and the paparazzi with stories of truth and lies, the boys had the same detest for the press as did their mother.
Both boys ended up marrying stunningly beautiful women, Kate and Meghan, and started to have lives more independent of the other.
Intimate, at times scandalous, this book brings many details of William and Harry’s lives and is quite riveting.
4 Stars
352. THE STORIES WE TELL by Joanna Gaines (12/30/22) Biography
If you are looking for tips on how to decorate your home-this isn’t the book. Star of the TV show “Fixer Upper”, Joanna and Chip Gaines bring a special magic to making a home gorgeous. They now have their own cable station, Magnolia Network, to add to their successful design business, their real estate business and their retail businesses. So in her spare time she became introspective on “life” and how to live our lives to full potential by releasing the “weights that hold us back” so “…we may live and share our story of the truth.” (I’m not sure what she means by that.) The book is guiding us through the journey “…to hold on to what you believe-about yourself-and the quiet worlds behind the people you pass-with gracious open hands.”
Well Joanna must be a real wonder woman to have all these businesses going on and also raising 4 or 5 kids (lost count), and lots of animals, and to have the time to write a self-help book about living life to full potential while learning the stories of others with gracious open hands. Wow! Her words are poetic but she doesn’t give specifics on how to do all that. I absolutely love her design work and just doing that is enough for me. I don’t mean to be mean, but this book was a little (maybe a lot) over the top for me.
3 Stars
353. PUTIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES by Philip Short (1/7/23) Biography
Philip Short was not short in his deliverance of this 848 page book, or my 12 hour audiobook. I am not a Putin historian or Russian scholar, but I decided to give this a whirl mostly because of Putin’s desire to gobble up Ukraine at any cost to human life or property. What goes on in the mind of a card-carrying oligarch?
The book recounts Putin’s non-illustrious younger years as a mediocre student and not as being a terribly ambitious younger man. But after his stint in the KGB he became admired for his tenacity and made many useful contacts. He hated the breakup of the USSR and started his obsession to restore Russia’s status as a great power.
He became President in 2000, and in spite his ruthless leadership he has gained in popularity with his people by raising their standard of living and making them proud of their mother country. And, of course, by controlling the media to only allow his version of the truth.
If you want a detailed account (with names, dates, and places) of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and maintenance of that power, this is your book. I found that the basics I already knew about Putin have been covered by news media pundits, and more detail of the this leader was not necessary for me, personally, to know. The question was not answered, “What goes on in the mind of an oligarch?” There was nothing new or any really big revelation in this textbook-like book.
3 Stars
355. WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR by Paul Kalanithi (1/10/23) Autobiography
Dr. Paul Kalanithi, in his final year of residency in neurosurgery, was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Through a beautiful narrative, Paul tells the story of a family living in Kingman, Arizona in a family of people in the medical field, and how Paul preferred literature and had no interest in becoming a doctor. He followed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Stanford but soon became interested in the brain. As he was trying to answer philosophical questions about life he kept returning to how the brain plays a part in how we think, feel and behave. He had been advised to study the philosophy of science and went to Cambridge University in England.
After returning to the U.S. he realized he needed to go to medical school to study the brain. That began years of taking courses to qualify to apply, the 18-month application process, and the 4 years of medical school before he could even start a residency in neurosurgery, one of the hardest and longest programs in medicine. Getting a cancer diagnosis in his last year was a blow he barely imagine. He and his wife had put off having a baby due to their grueling medical programs and now had to make a choice if they should try having a baby despite Paul’s diagnosis. Would this be the right thing to do?
Paul’s incredible story is so beautifully written by a true literary scholar, that this will be a fabulous experience for all to read.
5 Stars
358. WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS by Kamala Harris (1/18/23) Autobiography
The daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, Kamala (camel-ah) Harris had been a lifelong campaigner for equality. Influenced by her parents’ activism, they met at a Civil Rights protest rally at U C Berkeley, Donald studying economics and Shyamala Gopalan enrolled in a doctorate program in nutrition and endocrinology, were both activists. Early on Kamala felt the best way of reform would be to study law and become a lawyer. After studying at Howard University in Washington D.C., she headed back to Oakland, California to the District Attorney’s office where she worked for nine years before moving to San Francisco’s DA office and eventually running and winning District Attorney of San Francisco. When a Senate seat was vacated in California Harris ran and won that seat. She definitely was a rising star in the Democratic Party.
I enjoyed the book which highlighted the many causes and programs she started or was involved in, much of which I was unaware. I am impressed with her as a woman of determination.
361. SPARE by Prince Harry (1/23/23) Autobiography
In the audiobook we are able to listen to Prince Harry in his own voice give his recollections of his life in the Royal Family and today. If you were to judge his story by other popular autobiographies you might say , “What is the big deal?” He seems open and honest and tells a few tidbits about the family-purely par for the course. But, of course, this is different mostly because the monarchy led by Queen Elizabeth for decades, was determined to have as few personal details of their life leak out to the public, unless it showed them in a good light. Of course, them, being human beings with many flaws, and a media ready to pounce on every insignificant or even inaccurate story – for great amounts of money – made the Royals mostly unable to control their images. Their responses mostly were to ignore what they hoped would go away and to expect all Royals to keep their mouths shut and to behave.
Enter Harry. Harry tells about his trauma of losing his mother, Diana, the only truly loving person in his existence. Stiff upper lip, carry on, and all that type of upperclass protocol, which soon gave way to adolescent private school anger and loneliness. Then came the teenage partying, and buddy behavior equal to most frat houses. His problem is that he is a Royal and they aren’t supposed to behave that way – at least not get caught doing it. Joining the army gave Harry the purpose, structure, and fulfillment he longed for.
Enter Meghan. American actress, divorcee, exotic bi-racial beauty, feminist willing to say and do what she thinks is best. They fall fast. Everyone is suspicious of her getting all the attention, including other members of the family, like Prince Philip and Camilla, who are trying to win the polls for most popular after Camilla had been seen for years as the wicked witch who broke up the Philip/Diana marriage.
When Harry started realizing his beautiful bride was starting to get hateful, racist criticism and lies, and thought about suicide like his mother had in her darkest days, everything changed for Harry. He remembered how the paparazzi terrorized his mother and he would not let that happen to his wife. Then he found out some of the stories were planted by none other than the publicists of his family members. He and Meghan decided to flee the country and forge out a life of their own.
The criticism by the Royal Family, mainly by his brother, who said Harry broke the trust, I think has more to do with Harry’s openness, insight, and self-examination, something the Royals are supposed to keep to themselves. I hope Harry and Meghan are as truly in love as they seem to be and will be able to withstand the criticism from all kinds of naysayers. I’m rooting for them.
5 Stars
367. INSIDE OUT by Demi Moore (2/15/23) Autobiography
Most of us might remember Demi as mourning for her love in Ghost, or as the tough fighter in G.I. Jane, or the sexy stripper in Striptease, but did you know she was one of the highest paid actresses of her time? In this memoir we see another side of the celebrity/actor as she gives us an intimate portrait of her traumatic childhood, her rise to fame, her addictions, her doubts and insecurities, and much more. With heart-wrenching honesty Demi lays bare her struggles balancing her personal and career life. It is not sugar coated.
4 Stars
369. OPRAH by Kitty Kelley (2/20/23) Biography
From the “dish the dirt” biographical author who swears to the accuracy of 100’s of her sources, Kitty Kelley has undraped the lives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, and others. If you think you know Oprah, who is known to be open about her life, you may find a few more sides to one of the most important American icons in U.S. history in this well-documented and researched book. I found out that I only learned maybe 10% more than I already knew, making this long book a bit tedious, but it was still interesting and well written.
4 Stars
375. I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy (3/15/23) Autobiography
After getting over the shock of the title of this book I had to figure out who the author is. Jennette McCurdy gained her fame when she got a prime role as a child actor in two Nickelodeon television series, iCarly and Sam and Cat. She quit acting at 17 and became a writer and director. This memoir is based on her one-woman show of the same name in which she performed. The pandemic cancelled her live tour after performing in New York and LA, which gave her time to write this memoir of her childhood with an abusive stage mother who controlled her life and expected her earnings to completely support her family. In the show and book she uses dark humor to explain this serious subject which has left her with plenty of scars then (eating disorders, addiction, Jennette’s need to make her mother happy) and now (psychological complications of having had an overbearing mother who fat shamed her, pressured her to keep working when she was exhausted, scared her about her cancer, the ups and downs of her criticism and praise, and much more.)
With unflinching detail she chronicles her childhood filled with anxiety, shame and self-loathing. Her mother dies of her cancer at the peak of Jennette’s fame, the very thing her mother had been using for years to attract attention and sympathy to them both.
Jennette’s recovery or journey starts when she finally is able to get the therapy her mother never allowed and the slow process of becoming independent and healing. This story is mesmerizing, tragic, well written, and I could finally understand the title.
5 Stars
382. KNOW MY NAME by Chanel Miller (4/16/23) Autobiography
Chanel Miller was known as “Emily Doe” when news stunned the nation about her rape on Stanford University Campus. The perpetrator, Brock Turner, was a good student and a jock-a swimmer. The judge, even after two foreign students caught Brock as he fled the scene behind a dumpster, sentenced him to 6 months in county jail. The world was stunned.
Chanel wrote a victim impact statement, posted it on BuzzFeed, where it went viral and was viewed by eleven million in four days and was read on the floor of Congress. The results were a recall of the judge, the sharing by thousands of victims of sexual assault their experiences for the first time, and Chanel’s writing this book and exposing her real name, and sharing the most intimate details of her trauma, that protects the perpetrator and blames the victim. Know My Name transforms the way we think about sexual assault and speaks to truth and healing.
This tremendous and powerful book is A MUST READ!
5 Stars
BonniesBookEscape.com 